


Underworld

by cliffhangerqueen



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Depression, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Hades and Thanatos are a DYNAMIC DUOOO, Healing, Hecate is such a badass tbh, Marriage, Mount Olympus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma, Sexual Abuse, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Underworld
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 73,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28291569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cliffhangerqueen/pseuds/cliffhangerqueen
Summary: "Do you truly believe you can love a monster?""Oh love, what if I told you the monster is me?"TO EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD PERSEPHONE, her entire world revolves around her mother. After years of testing her power as the Goddess of Spring she finds herself looking through the eyes of the Lord of the Underworld, only sooner finding herself encompassed in darkness.When Persephone descends into the Underworld and becomes even more entranced to Hades, she finds that there is a growing power lurking inside of her heart - a power that is enough to bring the gods to their knees and let the world crumble.Welcome to Underworld, where the greatest love story of all ages blooms in the dark.UNDERWORLD IS ALSO POSTED ON WATTPAD UNDER M Y WATTPAD ACCOUNT -CLIFFHANGERQUEEN-
Relationships: Amphitrite/Poseidon, Hades & Hecate (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Hades & Thanatos, Hades/Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Hecate/Thanatos (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Hera/Zeus (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 115





	1. >> act one : in ruina eius lumine

**ACT ONE**

**_(latin.)_ in ruina eius lumine **

**( _eng. translated_ ) the fall of light **

**"aren't you afraid of my darkness, my dear?" hades asked with mischief in his eyes.**

**"no." persephone replied, "you haven't seen mine yet."**

**k . f. g**


	2. prolouge : daughter of spring and thunder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Underworld. I hope you all enjoy this tale as much as I enjoy writing it. I would also like to address that this tale is available both on my Wattpad (under the @ -CliffhangerQueen-) and here on AO3.

**THE AIR WAS WEIGHED** with a crackle of ancient power - steam roiling off the hot trenches deep in the caves of the Underworld. Where the stars couldn't be found and the air was always suffocated by darkness, there were three sisters.

Hags of the oldest ages who had the stress of creating the world's contents told stories through their black pitless eyes sat in a straight line, sitting upon their working thrones while eternally at work with their specified powers that brought together the fate of a life.

Tools of the highest principles whimpered and snipped at the leathery hands of each of the three women - each piece a third of what could only be deciphered by their minds. The tools glew with an energy that was to be unexpected after millenias, each item created from the immortality of Zeus himself. His daughters, ancient as time were the only people on earth able to wield these tools and live. Even the ichor in their veins rushed with such power.

_The Moirai._

Dressed in the deepest of emerald cloth sat the youngest of the Fates, her back painfully hunched over while her bleeding callused fingers spun the undestructable spinning wheel at her fingers. Clotho's smirk was one of utmost mischief, a story conjuring in the old goddess's head as the **unbreakable** luminous thread was spun from the materials of immortality. This third represented birth, a monumental beginning to any moment of a person's life. Clotho's grey hairs sparkled as it caught the sparkle of the spinning wheel, the moonstoned color of the thread evicting glittering promise of the mysterious individual's soul.

"An immortal." Clotho promised in glee, knowing exactly the lineage in question of the soon-to-be goddess. "Her birth will be one of mixed commotion - yet still celebrated amoung the Olympians. She will be blessed with a beautiful soul and of course," Clotho paused to face her sisters, her old bones crackling as she took the moonlit thread from the spinning wheel. "a kind heart."

Clotho passed the thread carefully to her right - right into the hands of her older sister's, Lachesis's, awaiting hands. Lachesis tested the unbreakable fabric, pulling against the material and memorizing the feel of the thread. It was always so intriguing how much a piece of thread could weigh in the hands of a Fate, for even those who could avoid death found life as precious as the people who were to so easily going to lose it.

Lachesis was said to be the most dramatic of the sisters - yet also the most indecisive. Which is why Clotho and Atropo's silence was planned. Lachesis rocked back and forth in her wooden chair, a blank stare on the woman's face as elements pieced together in her head. It was like the machinery of clockwork, every single aspect and thought working powerfully together in a working system that was flawless. Flawless but impossible all at once.

The flicker of the fire across the room reflected the hag's eyes, her lips stretching to paint a picture of horrifying beauty. Atropos leaned forward in anticipation, the world freezing as Lachesis's thin lips moved against her own accord, pursuing a tone of mystical destiny.

"Kind-hearted, yes, but the child will have a darkness harbored inside of her that will not show until her eighteenth birthday." Clotho arose immediately, having to avoid the deadly tip of the ancient spinning wheel as Atropos gasped.

Words from the Moirai were _law_. Spectacles of reality that couldn't simply be brushed away.

Words flurried around the sisters at once, anger rising to take hold of Clotho while Atropos felt grim concern.

"Sister, do you wish for madness? For another Kronos-" Except Lachesis dejected her sister at once, raising a wilted hand up to cut her off. The other hand was gripping the thread so tightly that her hand was trembling, the gears in her head scraping together fasted than they could process.

"Not another Kronos, but a _queen_. A queen of light and darkness - one that will mend another's soul. She'll defy the one who harbors her from the world and rise to her destiny." The room was overtaken by a struggled silence, one that consisted of careful words. Each sister looked to that flickering fire, their voided eyes swallowing the embers that illuminated their never-ending irises.

"You couldn't possibly mean-" Atropos didn't have to complete her sentence for comprehension to arise at the name hanging in the air.

"Oh," Lachesis smirked, a story for the ages uncording in her mind. "I mean _him._ Only him. Only through her demons can the Goddess of Spring find the very thing she repels yet aches for the most - shadows."

Thunder crackled above ground, hitting the earth so profusely that even the Fates shook in their seats. The world was blossoming furthermore, crying out of either the greatest despair or the most beautiful blessings. After all, the mighty Zeus was never one to ever contain his emotions under that scenario. Of where rain and power mixed, there would surely be blood in the aftermath.

With no further acceptance of possible feedback, the middle daughter outstretched the thread to transform it's dulling fabric into one that matched the size of a staff, granting the goddess immortality automatically. Her life was activating to that very thread, the sequence of birth about to begin in mere seconds. The thread was heaviest in this raging point, only the hands of the Fates able to wield the weight of an immortal.

"Light indeed." Atropos proposed as she greedily took the thread from her younger sister's hands, placing the scissors of death down upon the rickety table in front of her, completely ignoring the mounds of threads accommodating the surface. Death's Decider looked upon the thread and smiled, an undertone of hope flickering from the fire feet away. "But also, **Bringer of Death**."

Thunder crackled and boomed, the cosmos swirling and unfurling - becoming and unbecoming all at once. Shadows encompassed the thread, the Moirai gathering around the glistening fabric. An ancient thrum of crackling strength flowed through the three sisters - the galaxies beyond colliding to fuel the wonder that will be their newest creation.

And thus, a daughter of spring and thunder had bloomed.

~

There was an endless darkness underneath all that is beautified light. A suffice between what you would believe is everything you understand and knowing absolutely nothing at all. A twist in the line of absolute perfection; a thorn among the most attractive rose.

Rot and decay often seemed even lovier than being entrapped by a suffocating illusion of happiness. Where the pressure of dancing until your feet wore down to blood and bone, you become so vain within your vanity that you would kill to remain the shinest. The impact of smiling wide was surely bone-crushing. Churning from the inside out.

The God of the Underworld loved to entertain the thought that this was how the Underworld came to be, despite being as ancient as the ruined place he built with only a vast part of his future decided and an iron fist. The what ifs burned into the outskirts of his mind, filtering into his imagination and were often a way to escape reality as he got lost in each and every Judgement. 

Each Judgement, despite the ongoing tragedy of days, all seemed to be the same despite how years rolled into decades and decades rolled into centuries. There was no entice concealed in time anymore, not when you were so alone that each tick of the clock equaled indifference. 

"Hades." A voice as deep as the Styx and yet centuries ancient at once withdrew the god of the Underworld from his reverie. Standing next to his towering throne made of the deepest onyx gems and cutthroat blood rubies stood the personification of death himself, the shadow radiating around the ancient god's right hand electrifying the air with power.

"Thanatos." Hades addressed, his ebony eyebrow raising as he rested a pale hand to grip the side of his throne. 

It was only Thanatos that ever addressed the Lord of the Dead in such simplicity, but the action was deserved considering their friendship. A friendship crafted between two completely different gods yet very much the same in their...occupations. While Thanatos was the carrier of death, Hades was the organizer. A working system initially connected the two. Although Hades would always be higher in power, he considered Thanatos more of a brother than his very biological relations to the two dimwits above ground. 

Thanatos's lips curved upwards, the picture of mischief written into his features. 

"Something got your mind these days, old man?" Not a trace of hesitation.

Hades rolled his eyes and ignored the urgent tug of his lips. "Keep calling me old and you'll be the one feeding Cerburus for the next millenia."

Thanatos instantly stiffened, thoughts of the beast crossing his mind in rather unpleasant flashes. You would think that after centuries of being around the damn thing it would be proud to accompany you, but instead the most affection Thanatos got from the three-headed dog was a nip in the ass. 

Twice.

"Did I say old? I meant _impeccably youthful."_

Thanatos plastered a joyful smile over his face, gathering his black robes around him to place the parchment list belonging to the shades on an locked end table feet away in the enormous throne room, his footsteps echoing against the glittering midnight tiles. Thanatos couldn't take another squaking from Hades about how he misplaced the list a second time. 

Hades snickered, about to run a hand through his short ebony locks before realizing the weight of the dark gilded crown sitting upon his head. Hilarious how even after all these years he still hadn't become accustomed to the weight of it. Of how it sat upon his mind like a pile of bricks threatening to tip over. It wasn't as if Hades hated the efforts he put in day after day, it was instead how the missing pieces of the puzzle he's been constantly solving for the last infinity was simply _impossible_ to solve. What was missing that made even his crown unbearable? Was he not whole as it was? Maybe it was just the stress of the extended Judgement today - the one he barely managed to speed through to this point.

"I don't pay you to flatter me, Thanatos." The God of the Underworld commented while rising from his throne, his crushing blue-grey eyes dimmed under the crystalline lights of the chandeliers. 

Thanatos rolled his upturned eyes, inspecting an invisible piece of dust on his sleeve.

"Actually Your Highness you really don't pay me at all." 

Hades waved him off, walking forward to the exit of the throne room as Thanatos briskly followed. Their descent down the steps of the House of Hades led them to the royal chariots outside in utter darkness - only illuminated by the beautiful twinkling lights of the palace. Hades automatically made a beeline for his most impressive piece in the collection, already strapped with hi companions at the ready. Winged and mighty pegasus neighing for their master and kicking their hooves against the rich grounds underneath their feet, ready to meet the crisp air above ground. 

"You know you would think after centuries of his many, _many_ mistakes, Zeus would just wrap it up already and put a dent on his _oh_ _so_ _magical_ sperm." Thanatos commented with a hint of sarcasm, going the extra mile to enunciate the final words of the sentence.

Hades snorted while adjusting the golden latches of his embroidered robe, thinking to himself how much it would truly take for Zeus to stay faithful to Hera after years of the same pattern. Then again, Olympus was practically fueled with the never-ending infidelity of his family. 

"Yes but that would mean my brother would have to sleep with one woman for the rest of his life - and I'm afraid his pea-sized brain would short circuit if he even took the time to _think_ about that." Hades grabbed hold on the reigns, both mentally and physically preparing for the shit show that was about to take place. 

"Who even is the mother this time? Aphrodite? Selene? Oh my Fates don't tell me it's my mother!" Thanatos silently prayed to the Fates for the day to be forbidden.

Hades sighed, a migraine already forming in his temple. Surely this wouldn't be as different as all the other blessings he was forced to give - yet did he _have_ to do this? The thought of socially interacting with the rest of his dysfunctional family was enough to put him on bedrest for weeks.

"Demeter." Thanatos's jaw fell, the disbelief on his face evident. Hades smirked at the reaction, remembering how direly confused he was at the revelation. Confused, but not at all surprised. 

Because at this point in immortality, surprise was a treasure hidden deep in the forgotten tombs of the earth. 

**~**

Olympus was breathtaking. A city built amongst the cloudy skies and littered with jewels that theifs would drown for, architecture that was simply uncomparable even for the people of Athens and geography that was foundationed by the ancient gods themselves, Olympus was perfectly fit for the kings and queens that occupied the great city. Flawless in every way. For a set of adventurer's eyes, it was priceless, but in the eyes of Death himself - it was hell. 

Being dragged from his recluse was always enough to rile Hades to the bone, but coming to this place for every blasted occasion the King of the Gods announced was becoming vicious. It was never about coordination with his brother, but instead blatant selfishness.

The skies roared and howled above him as he landed his chariot on the golden palace of Olympus, the rain battling the sun for dominance on this special day. 

Hades was surprised to find his familiar brunette sister standing outside in the stormy weather, the Goddess of Marriage holding tightly to the bars of the balcony in front of her. Her molten chestnut eyes were voided... _numb,_ Hades confirmed. Hera had endured more than anyone in his family had in the marital department, and he couldn't help but feel a piece of his heart ache for her. 

He could still remember just how in love she was with their brother eons ago, despite life itself becoming too bitter in the few events that took place in that period. Still after so long of watching everyone of Zeus's children grow and continue to be birthed, Hades wondered why (or more so _how)_ Hera never consulted for revenge on the bastard.

"I see someone else isn't in the party mood." Hera's head snapped up to meet her brother's eyes, a gentle smile on his face. Hera shrugged, the loud _pitter-patters_ of the rain creating a comfortable silence for the pair. 

Hades stood next to the goddess, leaning against the railing as the finery he wore clinged to the large, cordeling muscles of his body. Spending so long underground made it so easy to forget the simplicity of the weather. The warm rain was almost comforting falling against his pale skin. _Almost._

"You don't need to feel pity for me, brother." The goddess commented, eyes glued to the scenery of her kingdom.

"It isn't pity I feel, Hera. It's misunderstanding." He replied honestly, with a twist of annoyance. Her perfect brow rose, plump lips pulling into a frown. "Misunderstanding of how you deal with a man who has no issue continuously warming another woman's bed despite uttering his love to you. You deserve more than that."

Silence bloomed between them, Hera choosing to open her mouth only after a boom of powerful lightning illuminated the skies.

"I was so in love with him at only seventeen years old." She shook her head, tone barely contained. "Isn't it so ironic? How little our titles define us?" The question was rhetoric, one of which Hades considered heavily every day.

Yet the abuse he faced on a regular basis regarding him being a monster...it drove him mad. Sometimes he wondered if the bloodthirsty saints sipping on warm ambrosia and cherishing their ruthless riches ever stopped a heartbeat to consider the madness they unleashed upon others. 

"Here I stand, the Goddess of Marriage with a marriage that is _crumbling_." She snorted, shaking her head. Hades stared off into the clouds, letting her be heard. It wasn't much, but it was enough. "And they call you the God of Darkness, but how can a man of the bright skies be darker than Death himself?" Thunder cackled in the wake of her words.

It stuck with him. How deeply she seemed to be disintegrating, how her marriage was taking over her _mind._ His blue eyes went stormy as he looked to her, Hera's eyes still distanced. 

"You aren't simply a marriage goddess, Hera." He promised. "You're the queen of one-third of this universe. And queen of the skies you will be. Show. Him. What. The. Queen. Can. Do." 

Fire entered the goddess's brown eyes, determined and powerful. When a smile lit her face that was as sharp as knives, Hades didn't hesitate to smile back. 

~

Olympian parties were the definition of perfection. There was never anything out of order, there was never a guest not on Zeus's mental invitation list, it was all just _...perfect_. The kind of perfection that Hades found extremely off-putting, especially because the trust issues from his father ran much too deep. Kronos was so obsessed with his power that parties were just his way of keeping his lifestyle of tyranny, flashes his gold and treasure until he became his own downfall.

Yet it made it all the much more satisfying when Hades locked him up into the depths of Tartarus.

An onslaught of cheers signaled the end of Hades's mind escapade, the glistening lights of the chandelier twinkling against the golden tiles of the massive throne room. Silver tables aligned the room, delicacies served only to the gods topped on each of them in a dazzling setup. Music of the most exquisite entity was being produced from Apollo's golden harp, the sound so beautiful even Hades's ears craved more of the bewitching tune. Ten Olympians were spread amongst the room, now cheering as they held their wine glasses in one hand - welcoming King Zeus into his abode with the fiery redheaded Goddess of Harvest at his side - holding the newest addition to the Olympian tree. His niece. 

The child's face was hidden away from the court, her entire body wrapped tightly in a pink fabric as she slept cocooned into Demeter's arms. All that was allowed into vision was a tiny pale hand of the whitest snow resting intently on Demeter's lavender gown. 

Hades allowed himself to clap slowly, sneaking a peek across the room to Hera, a look of boredom written across her features as she sipped reluctantly on her scarlet wine. Not a hint of anger or even jealously. Her entire face was simply numb. 

Zeus's pale blue eyes were alight with pure happiness, his muscular arm looped through Demeter's free arm. Her angled face was alight with exhaustion but pure happiness, the most positive instance of after-birth that Hades had ever seen. It was almost insulting that there was a storm raging outside on the new parents' perfect day. 

"My family," Zeus announced loudly, his blonde hair capturing the light as he gazed upon his daughter. "I would like to thank you all for participating in this monumental occasion. For the birth of me and Demeter's daughter: the Goddess of Spring, our beautiful Kore!" There was an explosion of approval, but Hades had to contain himself from rolling his eyes. 

Clearly the name was provided by Demeter, because the definition of the child's name pointed to everything Demeter would of wished for for her child. 

"Before we begin our festivities, we would be honored if our sibilings would step ahead to bestow a gift upon our daughter. A blessing for immortal life." The God of the Skie took his daughter in his arms, looking down on her with every bit of adoration that was possibly gathered on earth. 

It was almost comical how quickly Hera stood up, a flurry of movement following her as she approached the little one, descending upon the steps of the pedestal the new parents stood on. Hades leaned forward in intrigue, the silence sweeping over the room nearly unbearable. 

"I have one wish for my beautiful step-daughter and niece." Zeus's golden eyebrow shot up at the bitterness enterlaced into her tone. "For the child will have the most successful marriage of all time, full of love and complete trust." 

Interesting. _Goddess of Marriage, indeed,_ Hades smiled. 

Demeter's face contorted into one of the disgust, clearly not adjusted to the thought that her Kore would one day seek independence. 

The flow of events after Hera's generous blessing were entirely positive. Hestia bestowed eternal beauty amoung the little flower goddess while Poseidon blessed Kore with the trait of kindess for the entirety of her days. When the time had come for Hades to present his blessing, the ancient God had glided across the Olympian's floors with twelve sets of eyes following him, the descent from his seat to the pedestal one that felt as if it lasted eons. Power radiated off Hades in waves, the shadows surrounding him whispering, _feeling_ _._ He never let his face crumble. They wouldn't see his weakness. 

"Brother." The God of the Skies nodded in Hades's direction, a rare sign of respect from the man who expected everybody to grovel at his feet. 

Casting the world aside, Hades breathed in and out, finally allowing his eyes to wonder to the sleeping babe in his brother's arms. 

Kore's skin was flawless, warm cheeks flushed with a beautiful pink tint, offsetting her snow white flesh. Freckles lined her tiny button nose and deep cheeks, face angular and cheekbones indented. Her plump lips shimmered of a pale pink. Peach fuzz of the most fiery red sat upon her head, her sleeping eyes encased in thick black eyelashes. She was the splitting image of both the gods that made her - but different all the same. Her essence radiated of the warmest sunshine, causing Hades's heart to stammer. He couldn't contain the effortless tug of his lips.

Suddenly the seas and skies were falling, everybody else a mere speck in comparison to the exploding star in front of him. He had been bewitched. To the point of where his lips were moving against his will, his stormy blue eyes glued to the flower princess. 

" **Persephone."**

Hades had uttered it loudly enough that Demeter heard him, her face engulfed in disgust, snatching her sleeping daughter from Zeus's strong arms. 

"What the hell did you just call my daughter?" Her tone was venomous; accusational under every definition. Shock overtook Hades, the whole room reeling over the commotion. 

"Demeter-" Zeus attempted to coax the goddess, only for her to step back on the pedestal with fury shining in her eyes. The climate of the room suddenly turned icy, the world spiraling.

"I will not accept your sorry excuse of a gift. Not when you called my daughter _bringer of death."_ She spat the final words, Athena standing up from her seat feet away. Demeter hugged her daughter tightly into her chest, pushing away Zeus. 

Hades huffed a laugh, rolling his eyes while already reaching descending upon the steps. Of course this entire ordeal had to be controlled by Demeter, everything had to be catered entirely to her wishes. It took everything inside of him not to rage in anger. 

"Demeter, please. He has bestowed his gift and his choice is final. Be grateful." Hades stopped out of pure surprise, reeling over the fact his brother of all people jumped to his defense. 

"You are _mad._ I will not-" She began, only for Hades to turn around in a flurry of rage. 

"Then don't, Demeter! Do not accept my word. Enjoy your festivities and let the world revolve around your ridiculous choices. Surely your daughter will for the next infinity." There was a collective gasp, and the look of pain that crossed Demeter's face as if she had been slapped was enough for the blood to drain from his face, however the guilt never reached his heart. 

Zeus stood on the pedestal, mouth agape as he faced his brother. Aware of his pointless flings ridiculous outburst, he still chose the latter of facing his brother with a look of distress contorted into his features. " _Go."_ He mouthed. 

Gladly. 

Yet for seconds, only mere seconds, Hades wondered if Zeus regretted his past enough to rebuild the bridges that had burned. 

Only for the fantasy to disappear with a blink of his two eyes. 

Olympians were all the same. Selfish in their actions and unexpectant for their apologies. The galaxies yearned for them only so they would crumble at their feet with the wave of their hand.

Shadows encompassed Hades as he flung his arm out, power thruming through his veins as the Helmet of Invisibility slammed into his expecting hand, lightning illuminating the skies outside with crackling intensity. With a final look to his sleeping niece and the gods that made her, Hades placed the onyx helmet upon his head and fell into the icy shadows, the world blurred into nothing but darkness.

And in footsteps, the God of Death entered the booming rain, leaving the Goddess of Spring behind.


	3. one : brewing hurricanes that thrive in the dark

**THE FIRELIGHT ILLUMINATING** the small cottage in one of the most secluded corners of Greece was nothing short of beautiful, the miles of estate belonging to the Goddess of Harvest plentiful in bountiful crops, flowers abloom and the most rich soil you could find in the entirety of the universe. The nymphs and other entities of nature would argue that the estate shone the brightest underneath the sunlight, but the Goddess of Spring would always be the first to disagree. Because underneath the light of the silvery moon, her home was _stunning_. Even for the limited amount of sights the young seventeen year old Kore has ever seen, nothing would ever come close to her blooming flowers and rustic bedroom.

But in the years she's occupied the estate with her mother, Kore came to notice just how special the world would become days before her birthday. Of how the skies were even bluer and the roses were even brighter. It gave her a sense of hope that maybe the father she had only ever met once truly did love her, and that each year the confirmation of Demeter's love ran even deeper through the language Kore could effortlessly speak: through the flowers she loved with every piece of her immortal being.

Kore's room was bright from the hanging moon outside, the dreamful imagery of the stars greeting the beautiful twinkling planet leading Kore to push the covers from her body, feet shakingly moving forward towards her window, the warm summer air outside lightly breezing through her fiery long curls. She had minutes. Minutes until adulthood would be claimed with just a tilt of time. Each tick of the clock was led by her thundering heart, excitement running rampid in her body. Resting her head against the albany frame of the window, her molten brown eyes twinkled with glee. How could something so dark be so peaceful?

The sounds of the crickets chirping was chilling magic, the fireflies illuminating the skies utterly breathtaking. To lay under that blanket of stars and wish, _truly_ _wish..._

She _ached_ for the night. It was almost embarrassing telling Athena and Artemis that she had never stepped foot outdoors under the light of moon. Demeter was much too protective for that, afraid that Kore's kindness would lead her to her fall. Except Kore never had it inside of her to inform her mother that keeping her hidden from the world was physically killing her...in a way that had been ongoing before she could remember. Even if she wasn't completely aware of the mentality that her mother pressed upon her, it was still painful enough staying on the same grounds the entirety of her life, hoping for something she would never truly have.

No. Kore shook her head, betraying her own thoughts. She was being silly. Mother was right, simply because her mother loved her unlike any mother has ever loved their child...and that was enough to assure her that Demeter just wanted her happiness. She belonged here. With the fields of flowers and the nymphs that ran wild with her.

Right?

"Right." Kore uttered under her breath in a breath that _barely_ assured her, the world titling back on it's axis as she pushed her cracking heart aside, the tick of the grand grandfather's clock in the corner signaling mere minutes until midnight.

Kore faced the window again, pulling her light satin cardigan over her, wonder in her eyes as she looked to the ruffling grass under the moonlight. Eighteen. A booming number even for a goddess...surely it should be celebrated specially? Surely even a flower princess was deserving of just _one_ moment of resistance?

But _Mother._

As if she was behind her, Kore faced the closed door feet away, a dimension closing her from what she wished for and what would be twisted as disapproval.

_Tick_ _._

Seventeen years leading to eighteen for the decisions she never once made alone.

_Tick._

Seventeen years leading to eighteen for the adventures she wished to bring to life.

_Tick._

Seventeen years leading to eighteen to disclose everything she wished for.

Five more seconds. Just once. One time. Then she'd never ask for anything again. After all, it was such a tiny request, how could anyone be angry for something so small?

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

_Tick._

Heart leaping mountains she couldn't even control, Kore jumped out the window with a smile so bright that even the stars couldn't compare, air rushing to meet her sweating forehead as her bare feet met the midnight soil. The rush of exhilaration was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She felt...she felt... _Gods_ what was the word?

_Powerful._

Kore let out a laugh, picking up the thin skirts of her pink nightgown to run forward, the world finally behind her as she toppled over a field of lilies, the soft petals meeting the skin of her face welcoming. It tickled her cheeks and felt like the warmest of comforts.

She was eighteen. She was eighteen and it felt like not even Kronos himself could stop her.

Looking up to the blanketed stars above her, Kore's face outstretched at the twinkling stars staring back at her, each and every one felt like they were blinking solely for her. Gorgeous, incredibly gorgeous.

Yet then the sadness settled. In crushing, unbearable waves. This night only confirmed that there was life even beyond these fields, a world that she had never seen. A world she would never feel or taste. It was pathetic, she felt, to be so ungrateful as to think of all the things she didn't have when she had so much here, but she couldn't help but wish. If wishing had meant anything at all, if wishing was truly as useless as the thoughts she was having...she pushed it all back to part her plump lips in a whisper reserved for herself.

"For life." A tear ran down her cheek, anxiety welling in her gut at the thought of her mother hearing any of this. "For the colors I have never tasted, and the dreams I could never birth, for the love I could never experience..."

Believe it to be possible, but Kore knew you could still be alive without living at all.

**~**

If there was anything in the world Hades hated more than his visits to Olympus, it was the upholding of his diplomatic structure. Which ultimately entitled him to endless dinners of awkward courting with the _few_ people who he entirely hated. And of course, _mutually_ hated him with that same burning passion. 

Unfortunately enough for him, his guest of the night was no other than his great-uncle, the one and only Erebus, God of Darkness and massive pain in the ass. Hades still had no understanding of how a man so disgusting could possibly be the father of his best friend, however he knew that immortality came with the thorns that were meant to rob you of a life full of roses. Which in this scenario, the thorn was dealing with Erebus for the rest of his days.

"Hades." Erebus greeted with a skeleton finger on his chin, his pitless black eyes devouring Hades whole while his thin lips contorted into a blood-churning smirk. The shadows that surrounded him were nothing like his own, nothing like Thanatos's...they were ancient and twisted. Hades never doubted the stories of how Erebus strangled unknowing mortals in the darkness with a simple flick of his fingers - the shadows _becoming_ them. The essence of the air was overpowered by the stench of flesh and rot, and Hades instantly knew what was hiding in that mist...

How fitting this visit was confirmation of those crimes. 

He snapped his eyes away from the shadows clinging to the god, his whole face collected. He owned these grounds, built them from the very foundations of his memory. No one would bust into his home and claim his sanity. 

Not even Darkness himself.

"Erebus. It seems that our encounter is surrounded by a subject that is...unsurprising." Hades's bored eyes met his great-uncle's, unyielding. "One of which I do not condone whatsoever." Hades's eyes turned dark. 

"Oh come now, my Lord. Surely you would understand me stealing the last piece of chicken at Zeus and Hera's feast last year?" 

Hate cordeled in Hades's gut, his anger threatening to rise to the surface. He considered himself a patient man, only at the expense of their cooperation. Which unfortunately amongst the gods was seen as a luxury rather than basic communication. 

"Cut your bullshit, Erebus. We both know why you're here. I would never willingly ask you to come into my home unless it was simply business." 

"Awh my feelings are so wounded. Here I was, believing that the Underworld was _our_ home, only to be corrected by the big-balled man himself. My, my, excuse me for believing in my rights." 

The bitch even took the last sugar cube from the elegant container in the middle of the table, the simple _splash_ of it hitting the steaming tea inside the mug hitting the absolute _maximum_ on Hades's patience. It was times such as this one where he really, _really_ hated himself for not locking up the eldest gods. 

"I never said you weren't entitled to your rights, but I do remember the long list of rules that were created in order for you to be rewarded with the luxury of stamping around my home wherever you wish. Don't you, Erebus?" The smirk that claimed Hades's face was both beautiful and harsh, the light in his eyes powerful. 

A smile like that could crumble cities and break a person's heart - exactly what the mask of Hades was meant for. 

Only a flash of surprise struck Erebus's skeletal face, gone in seconds as he struggled to keep his composure, leaning back in his seat as he analyzed the bones of his hands. Hades could hardly maintain his satisfaction. 

"See, this is the problem with power. An individual can get so adjusted to their power that once it's robbed from underneath them they will do anything to get it back. Even kill."

An ebony eyebrow rose, Erebus's comment only furthering Hades's point. But all at once - it made him think. It wasn't as if he never stopped to consider how the eldest gods were overthrown - specifically through his father's tyranny - but the limitations that were eternally bonded to them to the point of where comprehension was still unobtainable was almost crippling to watch. His largest fears remained the possibility of his brother letting that power become him, letting the world crumble as their children overthrew them - it was terrifying to believe. Something his father never saw coming, surely. Rhea was the deciding factor in letting her legacy come to an end.

It was only when realization was achieved when it was all too late. 

"Killing innocent mortals to mist into your terrible shadows isn't going to help you succeed in world domination, Erebus. The Fates only decide in those matters." Hades's tone was stern, furious even. "Yet overstuffing my realm only further makes you all the much more selfish-" 

"Selfish?" Erebus cackled, basking in his humility. "You speak of selfishness as if you don't keep all your riches locked in golden treasure cases, Aidoneous. You speak of selfishness as if you aren't as much of a monster as I." 

Then the cord inside of him snapped - the torches illuminating the walls of the dining room quivering under Hades's rage. The world through his vision was turning blood red as memory of that damned word spoken through billions of other voices surged in his mind. It was him who was constantly putting his own needs below his sibilings because of their appease, it was him who spent each and every week of his immortal life judging the afterlives of each shade and deity - ensuring the scale stays entirely balanced, it was **_him_** who was forced into his own lonesome for the rest of his days and to suffer at the hands of a reputation based entirely off of his titles and decisions. He had suffered and suffered, endured and endured, but the earth was still on its axis. 

It took an explosion of his thoughts to keep his hand down, disconnecting from the yearning power bubbling in his gut, begging to be unleashed. Yet he didn't stop himself to rise from his seat, the legs of the chair screeching against the tile as he slammed his fist down to the table, control still belonging solely to him. 

"I have heard enough! You are on your second strike of the decade, Erebus. Kill another mortal under your own gain and I will not hesitate to let you rot in Tarturus with your disgusting sister. And when I tell you that I will let you cripple and rot," Hades's eyes remained glued to Erebus's, anger burning bridges through the two gods. Hades's fist remained locked on the hard wood of the table, his face inches from Erebus's as he uttered the final words with pure poison, "I promise eternity under your own personal suffering will make you wish _you were never an immortal."_

The porcelain mug in Erebus's hand shattered to millions of pieces as the door of the room slammed open, eyes flying to meet the son of the God of Darkness making his appearance on the other side. Hades gave himself only seconds to recollect himself, adjusting his heavy black robe as he stepped back, meeting Thanatos across the room. 

"Perfect timing. I was just wrapping up with your sorry excuse of a father, Thanatos." Thanatos's face remained impassive, eyes numb to the clear disappointment directed at his father. 

Hades knew of his history with the god, but it never failed to pluck a twinge at his heart whenever Thanatos had to come face-to-face with Erebus. Growing up with Kronos, the monster of all ages...made it easier to understand. For that reason alone Hades would never force Thanatos into dealing with his father alone.

"Unsurprising." Was Thanatos's only comment, face completely void. 

Erebus arose from the table, hatred burning so deeply into his face that Hades could feel it from feet away. The stench following him made bile rise in Hades's throat, pushing back the grimace threatening to overtake his face as Erebus stopped directly in front of the god. 

"Burn in hell." The God of Darkness gritted through his teeth.

"Oh Erebus, I _created_ it." A smirk of triumph overtook the God of Death's face.

Erebus burst into an angry cluster of shadows, gone in seconds. The smell of the dead remained - bringing Hades back even further into his reality. It wasn't just the smell that persisted that bothered him, it was also the fact that Erebus could claim so many lives just to attempt to make a statement. It all proved just how far he'd go to reclaim the power he so obviously thirsted over.

Silence was broken as Thanatos trudged over to the table, flopping lazily down onto the velvet cushions of a seat to grab one of the most richful wines of Dionysus's many creations. He huffed a sigh as he broke open the bottle, the cap shooting off onto the table. 

"Well, I would say that went _swimmingly_." Sarcasm dripped from his tone as he lifted the entire bottle to his lips, chugging the alcohol until his slender eyes watered and he was tipping his head back from tiredness. "Care for some wine?" 

Hades snorted, his fingers rising to massage his temple. A migraine was already forming, and the day wasn't even near over yet. 

Oh how he loved his job.

**~**

Persephone knew she was dreaming. Dreaming of liquid gold dripping down from broken stars and sharp black roses that broke through her skin, shining ichor slithering along her fingertips. Sensations that felt much too real were all too magical to be reality even in this universe.

Sunlight behind her eyes was like an explosion of light as her chocolate brown eyes fluttered open like butterflies, the metallic taste deep in her throat very prevalent. She heard running water from miles away as the soft flowers underneath her supported her entire weight, the world finally rushing back to her as she realized where she had fallen asleep. A voice, nurturing yet worrisome all at once, chased her as she skyrocketed forward, guilt blooming in the pits of her stomach. She had fallen asleep under the stars, away from Mother. For the first time in 6,570 days, she fell asleep somewhere her mother could never find her. 

"Kore!" Demeter's booming voice was full of distress, filling her lands with sadness. _"Persephone!" That_ was never good. Mother never used her true name, not unless Persephone was truly in deep trouble.

Kore jumped up, wrapping her pale covering tighter around her, the wind whipping her fiery curls behind her. Her heart was racing, thoughts thundering. She had defied her mother. She had defied her mother stupidly, not even bothering to cover it all. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes at the thought of her mother's eyes of disappointment, but she pushed it all back further with the lump of her throat as she approached her mother.

Demeter didn't even have time to react in the grassy fields of the meadow, Kore running straight into her mother's arms, Demeter gasping at the sight of her daughter untouched - beautiful as ever.

"Kore!" The Goddess of Harvest screamed out in relief, wasting no tick of the clock in clutching her daughter to her thundering heart, the sunlight ever brighter. Nymphs were running to and fro, performing their tasks and enchanting the quality of the lands. Nobody stepped near the goddesses, leaving this moment solely to them. "What happened to you? I was worried sick." Demeter stepped back, pushing Kore's curls behind her ears as she gazed intently on her face. 

"Mother, I was fine. I just...I went outside last night and-" The look that captivated Demeter's face threatened to push Kore over the edge of a mountain she hated even risking to cross, her heart rising as her mother cut her off. 

"Kore you know so much better than to worry me that way. You're eighteen, you could of at least alerted me. Someone could of taken you away from me." The sadness intermixed in her tone was a jab to the chest. 

Something shattered in Kore's heart, the thoughts of independence she hoped for clearly ignited to a fire. Her mother would never let her find freedom - even in adulthood. She swallowed down her tears, the pain that was fueled by her ongoing frustration spreading all over. 

She couldn't avoid those icy blue eyes, trying her hardest to build upon a mask that was anything but her true emotions.

"I'm so sorry, Mother. I won't let it happen again. I just...I wanted to help bloom the midnight lilies so you could wake up to something beautiful." The lie burned her tongue, but she basked in that deserving fire. 

Somehow from the Fates above, her mother believed it, smiling warmly to her daughter as she threw a sun-kissed arm around her petite shoulders.

"I already wake up to the most wonderful daughter each morning. Happy birthday, my little flower. Walk with me." Demeter guided them towards the crystal river, looking down upon the rich grass with a puzzled look on her face. 

Some days Kore felt as if she couldn't read Demeter at all, and other days she felt as if she could read her like a book. Today - fortunately enough - was one of those days. Something was troubling her, and the curiously was enough to distract Kore from the hurricane of emotions that was finally beginning to settle again. 

"Is there something wrong?" Kore asked, watching as her mother swooped down to swirl one of her fingers through the clear water of the river. 

Demeter was stunning in every sense of the word. Her curling red hair twinned to hers exactly drifted down to her lower back, vibrant and full of life. Her skin, toned from days spent in endless summer, glew and glistened underneath the sunlight. The deep maroon of her wrap dress was tightened in all the right places, her figure the definition of perfection and edged with strong muscle along her arms. She was the type of woman that was gorgeous when happy, but devastating when angry. Kore always strived to match her impact, but she knew she could never thrive in the sunlight the same way that Demeter always had. 

"Oh it's nothing, dear. I'm just...considering something that is very important." 

"Such as?" Kore knew she was pushing in places that didn't need to be pushed, but her curiosity was too tempting to ignore. 

"Well, you're already aware of the...presentation that takes place for every god and goddess on their eighteenth birthday. The Olympians - or should I say Zeus, likes to declare every god fit to their title with this presentation." Hope ignited in the little flower princess's stomach, the question hanging in the air so enticing that she could just _taste_ it.

"Like a test?" She questioned, a smile sparkling upon her lips as she leaned against the sleepy weaping willow behind her. 

Demeter stood up, a frown resting on her face as she dusted the water off her fingers. 

"Not necessarily. Just tradition. A tradition that I was hoping to ignore, but I think you would enjoy." It was as if she was saying the words against her will, clearly irked by the idea. 

"Mother, please. I want to see Olympus. I want to meet my father. I want-" Too many. Too many _I_ s. She overstepped the line when Demeter grabbed ahold of both her hands, looking her in the eyes with grave meaning. 

"I know, I know, my little flower. But Kore, the men who roam Olympus are monsters. Monsters intent on getting what they wish for whether you wish for it as well or not. They will hurt you. And if I'm not near you, I fear you won't be able to protect yourself."

Another blow. Another blow that she had processed and felt, the aftermath collecting into the hurricane that was brewing. When would she see it? Just how powerful she is, how _capable._ She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry and writhe and convince, she wanted-

No. No she could not.

Wanting went against her duty. Mother only wanted what was best for her, even regarding her happiness. Guilt contorted in her gut. It was wrong to be thinking such things. Not when her mother held her hands, not when she was so close. It would break her soul and her heart. 

"I know, Mother. You have told me. And I understand. I understand but I still believe that I can do this. I can impress everyone and claim my title. I promise I will stay near you, or Artemis or Athena at all times. I will be safe." Kore searched her eyes, hoping with everything inside of her. "Please." 

  
It took seconds for Demeter to sign, nodding her head in agreement. She was obviously unamused, but Kore could take that.

"Okay. I will alert Zeus with the news. For now I will prepare the chariot and our things for tomorrow evening. We'll celebrate here tonight." Demeter placed a warm kiss upon her daughter's cheek, Kore smiling to the world's end. "Happy birthday, my little love."

"Thank you Mom." Kore turned to watch Demeter disappear to the cottage, only allowing herself time to squeal out of excitement when her mother was truly gone.

She was on cloud nine, flying in the skies although she was reserved on the ground. Nothing could possibly ruin this day.

Kore sunk down to sit on the edge of the river, relishing the feel of the crystalline water against her bare toes. Focusing all her magic upon the water lily inches away from her leg, she fluttered her fingers effortlessly in the direction of the bud when something plummeted in her chest. The feeling was adrenaline, stuttering against the normal course of blood in her veins as her eyebrow rose at the bud - shock written over her features.

The flower bud had completely wilted, turning to a black crisp against the clear water, disintegrating into the pure liquid and spreading amongst the small area of the water.

The Goddess of Spring had killed a flower without even trying.


	4. two : an emotion that was becoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my sunshines! I just wanted to address some things coming up in this chapter just to clear some confusion. You'll notice that I use both the names Kore and Persephone at the same time. As the story wears on I do plan to use Persephone's name as simply Persephone - bringer of death and her true name. Also I was asked about the updating schedule of this book, and I do aim to produce at least one chapter each week. If I'm feeling truly passionate then I'll of course give more. Onwards and enjoy! :)))
> 
> \- A

**KORE COULD TASTE** the stars as the chariot sped through the night skies, the world that she knew turning to the size of an ant as Demeter harbored her away to Olympus.

Her heart was thundering in anticipation, the years of imagery she had formed in her head flashing in a series of hope - but also worry. What if her father's home was not all she imagined it to be? What if the world she had begged to get a simple touch of wasn't worth the sensation at all? What if...what if her father wasn't worth the eighteen years of imagining?

Kore made it one of her many missions to ignore the way Demeter grimaced at Zeus's name, often bashing him for their affair and blaming him for the ongoing trauma that took place nearly nineteen years in the past. Of course Kore had no connection in communication to the real story, but there was the pressing suspicion that Hera - her step-mother and her aunt - had no love in her heart for either of them whatsoever. After all, how could you love a bastard-born to your husband? Kore swallowed down all curiosity webbed to the story of her birth, reminding herself of her mother's fury if she was to find out that Kore was even merely _thinking_ of the affair.

The chariot ride was long but nothing short of miraculous, Kore often occupying herself with the task of pointing out the constellations warming the sky and the many villages she had read secretly in books Demeter kept "hidden" from her wondering eyes. She could spot Athens even from the stars just from Athena's loving description, the hard-working community of the space still at work even past dark, building their magnificent architecture. She captured a mental image of the ant-sized village and hosted it away in the inner depths of her memory.

Onward they flew, meeting wispy clouds and gliding over bodies of water both mirky and sparkling clear in the moonlight. It was the most adventure Kore had experienced in her eighteen years, so knowing just how elated a chariot ride could get her made her anticipate Olympus so much more. She had three days. Three days to live, three days to see. It was almost too much to process.

It wasn't until the sun was fighting the moon for revival over the horizon when Kore noticed a glittering city of gold just seconds away. She leaned against the edge of the chariot, her brown eyes widened as she briefly watched her mother's face turn to a frown. It dimmed the light inside of her for only a second, the questions she ached to ask her hanging so low in her throat she forced herself to dry swallow. She couldn't demand more of her mother. Not when she knew how much Demeter hated this place. Pushing it wouldn't ever be fair towards her.

"Welcome to Olympus, Kore." She still offered some reconciliation, Kore looking to Demeter with a grin plastered across her face.

Under the power of Helios, Olympus shone bright with promise. Kore could spot a gilding tower of clockwork striking seven in the morning, numerous geographic entities that were so breathtaking she wondered if they gleamed in comparison to Demeter's home, buildings of the most intricate architecture and temples devoted to the gods scattered all over the place. They raced towards the glimmering palace, large with an essence of dominating personality.

"It's...gorgeous, Mother." Persephone couldn't hold the words from her tongue. Her eyelids were heavy with sleep, but she held it all off to devour every sight.

"I will admit that the innovation is lovely." Demeter agreed. _At least she was attempting to make_ _light_ _of the_ _situation_ _,_ Kore thought.

At last they approached Zeus's home, Demeter landing the chariot effortlessly on the grounds of the castle. Kore's feet were tired with the strain of waiting so long on the ride that she was so easily distracted by the figure approaching her and her mother, her eyes rising to meet the most fluorescent emerald green she had ever seen.

The woman wasn't simply beautiful...she was _devastating._ Devastating in ways that made men fall to their feet and worship. The goddess had platinum blonde hair that captured the morning sun, curled at the ends and hanging freely down her shoulders. Her figure was curvy and sensual, meant to eneciate the deep plum chiffon that looked like it was created only for her. Her skin was free of any blemish, the tone so fair that it was nearly as snowy as Persephone's. Even her plump lips that sparkled the deepest ruby red offset the emeralds of her eyes, the smile the devored the goddess's face mischievous. There was something in her features that made her infinite youth strangely mature...as if there was an offset that one would have to explore in her features.. The glint in her eyes suggested that although a walking fairytale, she could transform into your greatest nightmare.

"Aphrodite." Persephone greeted meekly, her bones turning to dust as all color drained from her face. She felt uncomparable in the goddess's presence. Even the radiation of Aphrodite's power was strong in the air.

Demeter could sense her daughter's discomfort, moving behind her faster than sound to look harshly to the Goddess of Love. Of course in her nature, Demeter was unforgiving. However when it came to her niece she felt weirdly angered by her. For the love that bloomed between Zeus and herself was like a cruel joke sent from the Goddess of Love. Then again, without Aphrodite's power, Demeter would never have had Kore.

Touché.

"Calm, Demeter. I simply wanted to escort you both to your rooms. It isn't everyday we see you around, after all." The half-smile she offered was...somewhat warm. But also somehow mocking at once? Kore could still spot the curious glimmer she had in her eyes when looking to the redhead. "Plus, I wanted to see my sister. In the flesh." Her eyes flashed back to Kore.

"You look lovely, by the way. The years treated you with respect clearly, Persephone." Kore smiled at the compliment, feeling an inch of relaxation.

Until it was all wiped away by Demeter's icy voice, her mother gripping her shoulders from behind.

"She shall be addressed as Kore, Aphrodite. I will have some respect in my home."

Anger crossed the Goddess of Love's face, disappearing in a flash as something akin to annoyance sprung to her stunning features. She inspected her nails in boredom, a smile twisted onto her face.

"From my understanding Demeter, her birth name was a gift from your brother. And what is a god's gift again? _Oh_ yes, law." Aphrodite didn't stop there, enjoying Demeter's anger too much. "Furthermore, I find it very interesting for you to label Olympus as your home when you haven't stepped foot on it in almost two decades."

The fires of hell possessed Demeter's cold eyes, the air heavy with tension. Yet all Kore could focus on was Aphrodite's words and how all pieces of memory foamed together at Demeter's hatred towards her birth name...

 _Her uncle._ She only had two. One that was so deep in her mother's hatred that she chose to ignore one of the most important aspects of Persephone's life.

She ached for more information. Information she **would** cross later.

"However, I wouldn't say that your spite towards us is the star of the week, is it?"

A perfectly arched eyebrow rose to the mother and daughter, daring the mother specifically to alter against Aphrodite's statement. She smiled at their silence, making eye contact with Persephone. Despite the quarrel that had just took place, Persephone saw benevolence hosted in her half sister's eyes.

"There is so much to see to tonight, so how about we get you coordinated hm?"

"Of course." Kore hastily agreed, eager to move past the crippling tension between the ancient deities.

Demeter threw in the towel, walking forward in the lush grass as Persephone briskly followed her mother.

Yet she could still feel Aphrodite's gaze burning into her back, and she couldn't help but believe that something life-changing was in store for her.

**~**

Several components contributed to the stress of running an entire third of the universe, but nothing would ever stop the tiredness that consistently showed on Hades's face. He loved his lands - the ones that were so clearly alive despite living in a realm of death - and he ruled over it impeccably with a force that could not be ignored. However he sometimes wondered if his aging would miraculously continue despite his immortality, and looking in the mirror now, he unfortunately failed in ignoring the eyebags that underlined his shocking blue eyes.

Hades was everything far from bad-looking. He had matured into his features long ago, each year marking something strong in the gleam of his eyes. Maybe it was the unstoppable radiance of power that stuck to him, or maybe it was the knowledge so many stupidly ignored, but there was a hardened beauty about the man that even Aphrodite _(silently)_ admired. Hades's hair was geled to his usual style, parted to the side in waves of onyx. His eyelashes were thickly curled, offering a peek through the window of his ancient eyes. The stubble that lined his sharp jaw was accompanied by a dark mustache above his thin pink lips, one that he refused to let grow further in fear that he would look too much like Zeus. His build was always so bulky and muscular, his arms aligned with corded veins that sometimes even showed under his thin jackets. 

However the lack of sleep he had been experiencing for months on end was showing ridiculously, the whites of his eyes rimmed with a light red. He knew that his abilities enabled him to just snap it all away, but hiding the little humanity he let show sounded too cowardly that he had no choice but to resist. He wasn't childish like Zeus in his rule, nor did he ignore the obvious hints of age like Poseidon. He was prideful in his work - almost too much.

There was an undertone of depression in his everyday life - and it showed greatly in his eyes. The shades would continue coming and Tarturus would continue raging. There will always be doors to lock and unlock whilst fantasies of something new would be continuously ignored. He had accepted the grayness in his heart and moved onward with as much dignity as he could muster. Hades reminded himself that there would always be stories of unfairness from the Fates that raged powerfully in his world, and in his opinion, he just couldn't afford complaining for something he would never receive.

What did _he_ want? The question caused an eruption in him as he stared at himself in the oval mirror, eyes wide with the question. He had all the riches of the world, order that was perfect and even a loyal friend, how much more did he? It was frustrating when something burned on his tongue and mind.

The word flashed through his head. He almost, no, scratch that - _desperately_ _didn't_ want to bring it into existence. 

Ignore. Ignore. Ignore. 

Luckily enough the dark alabaster door to his quarters opened softly, revealing one of his handmaids accompanied by Thanatos. Hades internally groaned, wishing to the Fates that Thanatos would leave his staff alone. It was almost astonishing how the man was childless at this point. Not that he cared who and how many people Thanatos seeked partnership with, but instead it was the _outcome_ he worried about.

The thought of a mini Thanatos running around was enough to terrify the living daylights out of the God of the Dead. Then again, in Thanatos's infamous words - he knew how to _wrap it up._

"Do you have to leave?" Thanatos whined like a child, throwing himself onto the elegant velvet red loveset opposite of Hades's massive bed. 

"Oh poor you, it's almost as if you _work_ here." Hades mocked while sipping on his golden nectar.

Thanatos held up a very specific finger to Hades, his face solemn.

Hades ignored the god, facing the handmaid that placed his outfit of choice on the bed. He offered a thankful smile, addressing her with respect. 

"Thank you, Calista. That'll be all." She nodded with a lovely smile, leaving the room swiftly. 

Taking his heap of clothing, Hades moved to the shoji screen across the room and began to undress, the fatigue of only getting three hours of sleep previous guiding his slow movements. 

"You know, you could just ignore Zeus's request of flying down there yet again." Thanatos further suggested, his voice laced with laziness. 

Hades flicked together the buttons of his black shirt, the material thin against his body. He was still not acquainted to the new styles of Olympus, yet he was willing to try something new for the sake of this visit. Apperently he was leaving in celebration of the Spring Goddess...Persephone. Daughter of Demeter. The niece he was sworn off by. 

"And let you off so easily? Yeah, no. Not happening. You know what to do. Take care of the shades and monitor Tarturus. Judgement will procede the very second I come back. No one comes in for the next three days." 

He swiftly finished placing on his leather boots and deep black trousers, hooking his heavy robe around his shoulders as he walked to the onyx helmet resting peacefully on his desk. The Hymn crackled with intensity, fitting so rightfully in his hand that the world finally felt as if it was in one piece again. 

"No crown?" Thanatos opened a singular eyeball in the midst of his near-nap to peek intrusively at the god's crownless head. 

It struck him then that his crown sat upon it's ruby pillow case feet away, the crown screaming at him to both take its rightful spot and for him to ignore to the holy grounds of nothing. Hades often forgot such a monumental thing when visiting his brother simply because he felt that he was leaving his realm of power behind. Zeus took the reins in the skies, Poseidon ruled the ocean and Hades kept order over the dead. 

As it should be. 

He was contempt with leaving it behind. Hades even found peace with knowing Thanatos would keep every beautiful thing safe. 

"No." He answered simply, gripping the Hymn. "I don't think so." 

"Well boss, have a wonderful vacation." Thanatos waved, taking one of the velvet pillows and placing it over his head as if he was going to nap then and there. "I will see to it that everything gets done....in a few hours."

In _Hades's_ fucking bedroom. 

"Few hours my ass." He grumbled, grabbing the canteen of water off the corner of his desk to quietly prod over to Thanatos. 

....only to burst into laughter when he poured the canteen of water over his barely sleeping friend's head. 

The god skyrocketing off the sofa, throwing the pillow at Hades's head - which he effortlessly dodged. Thanatos's whole upper-body was soaked, water dripping down his sharp features and onto the carpet beneath them. He glared at Hades with irritation in his eyes, but also fighting off the laughter that threatened to take hold of his face.

"You are such an asshole." 

"Takes one to know one, my friend." Hades winked, disappearing by shadow.

**~**

_Her heart was pounding in the darkness, surrounded by_ _black_ _shadows and things that creaked in the_ _dark_ _. It was so much deeper than the night, so_ _much_ _more intense than her worst nightmares. She was inhaling the shallows and exhaling the aftermath. She_ _couldn't_ _see,_ _couldn't_ _even smell. Her senses were_ _shuttering_ _and so far from her reach that the frustration she felt turned into solid terror._

_She was_ _trembling_ _, her breaths_ _coming_ _out into tormenting shakes that forced sweat to cascade down her neck and_ _mix_ _with_ _her ichor. Goosebumps aligned her skin in the darkness, the polar of the air_ _daring_ _her to utter a word._

_It was_ _freezing_ _,_ _entirely_ _opposite_ _to what she was accustomed to back in the sunlit meadows. She felt naked and_ _watched_ _,_ _the_ _blackness's eyes_ _devouring_ _her_ _._ _She_ _wanted_ _to crumble to her knees,_ _find_ _the_ _light_ _and cling to her mother. Her mother was right._ _The_ _world was_ _wicked_ _and unforgiving; cruel in all of it's_ _miserables_ _._

_Something wretched crept into her heart at her mother's words from_ _years_ _ago - an_ _echo_ _of a_ _ghost_ _the possessed the dark._

**"That is** **why** **you must stay near** **me** **little flower, you are powerless in the** **dark** **."**

Y _et w_ _hat good was_ _power_ _if it only_ _thrived_ _under one condition? Why_ _couldn't_ _she_ _have_ _it all?_

_She_ _wasn't_ _powerless, Kore assured herself. She_ _wasn't_ _powerless. How_ _could_ _she be? Anger filled_ _the_ _cold voids of_ _her_ _heart_ _._

**"Because you** **can't** **have** **it** **all, Kore. Selfishness is the root of** **evil** **.** **Don't** **let it bloom."**

_She remembered that bedtime story word for word - thriving in it. Of how_ _Pandora_ _dared and dared and tasted it all, of how one mistake caused so much_ _ruin_ _._

_But Kore_ _was_ _so_ _kind_ _. All the time. Why was_ _temptation_ _so easy to succumb to while her reputation was_ _burning_ _her in an endless fire? She was in pain,_ _drowning_ _in those flames. Fates,_ _why_ _couldn't_ _she_ _just_ _have it all?_

_Something_ _slithered down the little goddess's spine then. Akin to a_ _snake_ _it it's sensation but entirely alien. Then the pain exploded as something she could only compare to the pain of a knife_ _penetrated_ _her skin, dragging down, down,_ _down_ _until it reached her tailbone, blood spuring from_ _the_ _wound to the point of Kore falling to her knees,_ _screaming_ _out in agony._

_Laughter_ _swallowed her whole, the dark settling into her bones and shattering her heart, the tears that streaked her face like glass dragging_ _through_ _her skin. It burned. It hurt. It was relentless and powerful and so, so_ **_painful._ ** _It broke her from the inside out._

_And then the adrenaline began. The adrenaline that rushed_ _everything_ _to a_ _spiraling_ _, swirling mess. She knew why people_ _thrived_ _in the dark. Because when_ _you_ _spent_ _your life trying so hard to rise, the fall to become was much too simple to ignore. Her hand slammed down onto the ground, the whole world shaking -_ _threatening_ _to crumple. She_ _couldn't_ _hold it in,_ _couldn't_ _conceal the attack of emotions._

_It_ _wasn't_ _Kore that pursued the action, her molten tearful brown eyes changing to a relentless glowing purple that personified fury,_ _glowing_ _in the dark._

_Persephone did what Persephone did best._

**_Persephone_ ** _exploded._

_~_

"Persephone? Persephone!" A commanding voice lured her from the depths of her sleep, a strong hand shaking her awake to a world of unfamiliarity. Kore's chocolate eyes busted open, her whole body surging forward as she exhaled a gasp, her body trembling from the aftershocks of her nightmare. Images flashed one after one, her eyes filled of tears that dripped down her face like a powerful waterfall. She could still feel it. The knife plunging into her back, the breakage of skin as her tears ripped flesh, the-

"Seph?" And then she realized - she wasn't alone. She wasn't back at the cottage under her mother's warm gaze. She was in a nightgown of the most exquisite silk, in a bed that put her own to shame, and more importantly, she was in the midst of a panic attack in front of the Goddess of Wisdom. 

Athena's light green eyes were a flood of concern, widened with...understanding? Confusion? Kore couldn't read them now, not when the whole room was swirling. She just needed her mother. She needed the comfort that was ripping out her heart as she bled of emotion. When Athena took her in her arms, Kore didn't hesitate to cry into her shoulders. 

"I used to have nightmares when I fought in my first battles. The panic attacks...they always followed." 

It struck Kore that she never labeled her outbursts. After all she never truly expressed them to her mother in fear of explaining them, because that felt as if it would be much too complicated to tackle. The pressure it put on her was simply too much. 

Her half sister's hand found her brilliant red curls in soothing strokes, the tears waning as she just listened to her voice, yearning her heart to settle. The hurricane had struck, and she feared it still wasn't done raging. 

Kore could still feel it. The tingling sensations on her back, the world colliding with her power...

"I found overtime that once I conquered my fears the attacks stopped. I became comfortable with the idea of growing into control. After all, I was bred from a thought. I had never felt something as strong as emotions until I simply _became._ " Kore was still fascinated by Athena's origin, so much that when Athena visited her at the cottage she'd request her stories over and over again. 

"Is that how they stopped? When you found the control?" Kore uttered meekly, her red hair clouding her vision as she realized the tears finally stopped. 

"No, not just that." Athena answered softly when burying her face into her sister's hair. Kore could of sworn she felt a smile. "They stopped when I realized I could conquer. When I realized I am powerful."

**~**

Between waking up midday and finally recovering from her panic attack, Kore was then urged to a routine of events that she felt replenished her energy enough to prepare for all the meetings she'd have at her presentation that night. The servants of Zeus's order prepared the most luxurious bath she had in ages, massaging the tenses of her back with oils and lotions. Drying off was accompanied by another set of lathering, her body shimmering by the end of the process and cleanly shaven. Her hair had never felt so soft. It was odd, because Kore felt as if she both loved but hated the attention. 

They then sat Kore down at her vanity where they worked her hair slowly while she munched on the most delicious fruits and soft cheeses. Kore had requested that they kept her hair as natural as possible, finding that her instructions were clear enough that the outcome was stunning. The servants had lightly curled her hair, the vibrant curls falling midway down her back in soft beach waves that flew with the wind. They had even worked a heavy braid of woven gold to the side, fading with the red landscape. 

Makeup was a pleasant experience, Kore making light conversation with the girls while they applied shining lip gloss to her plump lips and powdered her eyelids with an iridescent rose gold combined with a twinge of black. Kore was stunning in the softest definition. 

When the process came to get dressed, Kore was surprised to find the girls had already chosen a fitful dress to wear to the presentation. And because of her nature of simply rolling with instruction, Kore plastered a smile on her face and nodded. Little did she know the gown was all she could envision and more. 

Her eyes lit up when she had put on the mermaid ball gown that hugged her form, the ends falling to the ground like a glimmering waterfall behind her. The dress was gold and embroidered with swirls the color of sunshine. The neckline was heart shaped, exposing a small amount of her breast in an elegant swoop. Looking into the mirror, Persephone didn't feel like the small teenager she had been hours ago...but instead a woman. A _goddess_. 

The Goddess of Spring. 

"You don't like it, miss?" One of the handmaids stepped forward in question, picking her nails nervously as she watched Persephone's face crumble. "Oh, you don't like it!"

"No!" Persephone stepped forward, the click of golden heels against the floor assuring the girl otherwise. "It's just...I feel different. I feel beautiful." Her voice broke as a singular tear rushed down her face. Gods, she was an emotional wreck. "I'm sorry, I'm just happy."

The three handmaids smiled proudly amongst themselves, one going to gently dab at Persephone's tears. It was clear that translating these things wasn't her strongest pursuit, and luckily enough the girls didn't push. 

"Never apologize for feeling happiness." The tiny brunette handmaid smiled, and Persephone smiled warmly back. 

There was a pang of hurt in her heart. At the realization that her upbringing could of unfolded so much differently if she had been by both her father and Mother. Yet the guilt settled again, reminding her deeply of her mother's love. 

"Your father would like to see you before your presentation, my lady. He requests your presence in his parlor a floor down. Now would be preferable, sense you now have half an hour to burn." The revelation from the handmaid brought Persephone back from her dream world in full force.

Anxiety pooled deep in her gut, a sick feeling contorting in the inner depths of her stomach. Of course she wanted so desperately to meet Zeus, but alone? Without Mother? Without anybody at all? Her heart was thundering at the speed she wished she could allow her legs to run now. She swallowed back the lump in her throat, her body already trembling. The palace was so big compared to her, all sense of confidence rushing from her body and feeding into those intruding thoughts taking hold of her mind. 

"Oh. Uhm, of course. Yes. You said the parlor a floor down?" She meekly let out, clearing her throat as if it would magically fix her tone. 

If the girl could sense her discomfort, she showed no sign of it - only nodding. Persephone seeked some reconciliation from that. 

"Are you in need of an escort? I can help you." She was too nice. Too nice that Persephone felt horrible letting her down, needing to run from this place at full speed alone. 

"I'm very thankful for the offer, but I'm just going to do this alone. Thank you so much for helping me." She pushed as much genuineness into her tone as possible, trying to overpower the shakiness. 

The handmaids nodded and uttered their responses, leading Persephone to the door. Once the shining lights of the hallway shone over the goddess and the click of the door signaled her lonesome, ease took hold of the eighteen year old as she slowly began descending down the hallway, scenarios filling her mind. 

She tried to coax herself with thoughts of home and Mother's laughter, but the pressure on Persephone's body threatened to overtake her vision for his afternoon. _You're a mess._ Persephone shook her head, pushing down the tears. She needed to do this. She needed to find her place in this world. Alone. 

Immortality spent in comfort was no adventure at all. She didn't get out of bed to sulk and to spur. She got out of bed and recovered to taste the colors of life and run to freedom. She-

Every thought was interrupted as she slammed into what felt to be a hard body, the world colored into various shades of confusion as she gasped, falling back, nearly falling to the hard tiles of the hallways until a large hard overtook her bare arm - pulling her closer to the ghost of a chest. She heard soft panting, felt the whisper of a breath against her forehead in a sensual tug. The embrace...the way she was being held...it triggered every piece of intimacy in her heart. Even the speed of a thundering heart against her own, her body so close to another that the years of being alone had vanquished in this moment. She felt... _alive._

Only to look around and see _nothing_ _._ Nothing despite definitely feeling something. She felt the warmth of someone against her skin...holding her.

Was she going mad? Was she seriously being held by the _air_ or was this all some cruel joke?

Persephone seriously considered turning back to her room and slapping herself, until there was a small rustle of movement against her and suddenly a man's body appeared out of thin air, an arm corded of pure muscle holding her tightly to him, ebony hair falling to his thick brows. Was that...a helmet he held in his other hand? She ignored it all, too distracted to even care. Her eyes wondered and wondered, devouring the sight of them as he held her eyes with an intensity that made her kneecaps melt to jelly. Heat bloomed all over, spreading like wildfire. Fates, she would risk the burn. His cheekbones were sharp enough to cut knives, his jaw edged beautifully with black stubble. 

Persephone could sense his power enveloping her, the essence of it thruming thickly in the air around her, mixing with her light to form something new entirely. 

He was easily towering over her yet their faces were so close that his forehead almost intermingled with hers. The world was frozen, and nothing made sense but also made sense all at once. His arm was still holding her tightly and she found in his touch that she wanted to whisper his name - the name she did not know - and see him laugh until the end of her days. 

Her eyes followed the map of his face to see his thin lips, breathing deeply at the thought of what would happen if they touched her. She was going to drown...

It was so powerful and so right and burning so deeply into the pits of her stomach. These emotions, this feeling...gods what were they? Was there even a label for something so becoming?

But his eyes...his eyes were the most striking blue that she had ever seen in her lifetime. Even with the limited sights locked in her memory, she knew that even Poseidon's most beautiful oceans couldn't even compare to the color. Her father's lightning wasn't even comparable to his electric gaze. 

He was the beautiful thing she had ever seen. In fact Persephone even believed that he would _always_ be the most beautiful man she would ever see. He was beautiful in ways that broke her heart and pieced it back together again all at once.

Her heart was going to explode. Or implode. It could go either way and she would be thankful for at least seeing him.

"Hi _."_ She whispered, all the anxiety that was in her gut previously whisked away, but her tone of voice was still softer than velvet. Her mouth was moving against every intention. 

And yet he still held her. Why didn't she want him to let her go?

"Hello, I'm so sorry." His voice was husky, deep and bleeding with sincerity. Persephone nearly kneeled for him just for the sound.

"For what?" She whispered back, their mouths so close but galaxies apart. 

Then he laughed. And Fates had she ever heard something so melodic. Their foreheads touched for seconds and contact had never felt so right. 

"Well, I should of moved out of the way." There was mischief in his tone. Not the type that was meant to hurt, but the type that was playful. 

Even more confusion took hold of her, her brow rising. Then she remembered the invisibility and ached to ask every question under the sun. 

Finally, as if the spell has broken but was still being held by a string of hope, they broke apart, the man clearing his throat as he stepped back and ran a hand through his dark locks. Everything about him was mysterious. Persephone shyly smoothed a wrinkle out from her dress.

"Oh yes, for making me question reality itself? I'm not joking I seriously considered slapping myself." They both laughed quietly, the man's eyes brightening at her giggles.

"Well I'm glad I gave you some level of entertainment, this helmet can be useful after all." 

She had, too. Every speck of anxiety had disappeared from her body, as if only he could evoke such a reaction. She nodded, looking to the white tiles reflecting her smile.

Then a comforting silence fell between them, one Persephone truly confined homage in, but was soon broken by his voice. 

"Well I suppose I should get going. I wish you the best afternoon." When he bowed - only for her - it made her heart stutter. Something about the interaction made her feel special. 

And when they went in opposite directions, when they broke apart and she could hear the echo of his footsteps going the other direction, she swore her heart stopped in fear out of never seeing him again. 

She turned around, throwing shame to the wind. Today was the day to dare. 

He was feet away when called out to him, her voice turning him around.

"Will I ever see you again?" It was a question only the Fates could answer, but she still needed this last response. 

A smirk pulled at his features, the world becoming whole again. 

"Only time will tell. After all, I can imagine we're here for the same reasons?" She nodded, watching as he walked forward. 

And maybe in her heart she wished and wished for it, but she knew that her forward was walking backward, in the opposite direction. 

But duty was what made her go onward. 


	5. three : a fire ignited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year my sunshines! I can not believe the way we are speeding through this book, even if it is only chapter three. Can I just mention how much I love each of you already? The book has only been up for a week and we've already secured 334 hits and 21 kudos. That. Is. Insane. I love you all, enjoy the chapter! 
> 
> ~ A.

**_HADES WASN'T VERY SURE WHY_** _he repelled against being seen in Zeus's home_ _before_ _the_ _ceremony_ _, but leaving the Hymn on and becoming a ghost amoung the Olympians was almost...relaxing. It_ _wasn't_ _as if he_ _was_ _doing it_ _with_ _malicious_ _intent_ _, but to instead avoid all the unnecessary_ _commotion_ _and_ _find_ _peace_ _in the_ _beginning_ _of_ _his_ _(forced) three days of what Thanatos's described as a "vacation."_

_Except vacations_ _weren't_ _meant to be stressful. He's only been away from the Underworld for a mere thirty minutes and he was already aching to go back and bury_ _himself_ _in work. It_ _wasn't_ _like he_ _didn't_ _have faith in Thanatos, it was_ _just_ _that he was so used to his_ _routine_ _that_ _being allowed to run_ _away_ _from it was_ _beyond_ _unusual in Hades's mind. Besides_ _what_ _vacation was basking in the upper world and drinking on_ _Olympus_ _with_ _the people who hated_ _him_ _(and he hated) most?_

 _To allieve the pressing pain on_ _his_ _mind, Hades took to silently walking the hallways of Zeus's abode, taking in the new structure and innovation. He found some of the new_ _touches_ _to be oddly_ _welcoming_ _, with all the open sunshine combined with the warm yellow_ _lighting_ _, he felt almost at_ _peace_ _taking_ _this walk alone. He_ _didn't_ _even allow_ _himself_ _to consider anybody but Hera_ _requested_ _this_ _touch_ _, wanting the_ _best_ _setting_ _for_ _Hades's niece of three years - Eris._ _Obviously_ _when Hades had recieved the_ _news_ _four years ago that Zeus and Hera were_ _expecting_ _a daughter an entire two centuries after having Hephaestus, Enyo, and Ares, he was in shock. Not in shock the way that was mind-numbing, but in_ _shock_ _that Hera had somehow moved past Zeus's_ _ongoing_ _issues with fidelity and decided to have another child. He_ _didn't_ _particularly see the girl since her birth,_ _but_ _he_ _could_ _already picture a_ _bright_ _future ahead_ _of_ _Eris through Hera's newfound parental guide._

 _Hades could_ _only_ _pray to the Fates_ _she_ _didn't_ _turn into an_ _extra_ _Zeus,_ _because_ _that_ _would_ _be_ _enough_ _to give him a heart attack._

_Then again the entire reason he was here was for his elder niece, birthed by his least favorite sister - and_ _how_ _convenient - least favorite brother. What a dynamic duo, indeed._

_All jokes_ _aside_ _, Hades always found it very intriguing of how the affair ended with such melodrama. Even_ _whispers_ _spread to the Underworld, and he_ _didn't_ _need_ _complete_ _confirmation from anybody but Hera to understand the technicalities of the events. After Persephone's birth, Zeus and Demeter fell, their relationship ultimately ending because Zeus supposedly broke Demeter by simply telling her he_ _couldn't_ _choose anybody else over his wife. Shocker, because_ _isn't_ _that_ _the point of_ _being_ _married anyway? Demeter raged, cursing Zeus and detaching herself from the Olympians. At only a week old, she stole Persephone (or excuse him,_ Kore) _away_ _from Zeus's_ _reach_ _,_ _raising_ _her in seclusion somewhere that only a restricted amount of Olympians knew the true_ _location_ _of._

_Hades never had a soft spot for Demeter, but he did_ _partake_ _in the care of her wellbeing once upon a time although she had_ _always_ _been cold. Yet taking her daughter's_ _father_ _away_ _from_ _her daughter...it_ _didn't_ _set correctly with_ _him_ _. Even if she had her reasons - which she sure as hell did in Hades's eyes - it was cruel. Hades could only hope that the princess of Spring was_ _collected_ _._

_Approaching yet_ _another_ _corridor, Hades almost froze when he heard the_ _distant_ _clicking of heels_ _against_ _tile,_ _shrugging_ _to_ _himself in realization that the_ _palace_ _was a flurry of activity every other place anyways. The_ _sunlight_ _streaming_ _through_ _the windows warmed his face, and he moved ever forward, quiet as a mouse on it's toes. He found it strange how this singular_ _corridor_ _was_ _something_ _comparable to a ghost town,_ _every_ _other level bustling with activity while he detected an individual beside himself walking around. Hades remained_ _indifferent_ _._

_Until he saw her._

_Until_ _his_ _blue eyes carried him to a sight that even Mnemosyne_ _couldn't_ _ever erase._

_His entire_ _body_ _froze, his heart stumbling_ _over_ _strings just to race in her presence. It_ _was_ _bewitching how fast her affect overtook him. Mind, body and soul instantly belonging to her._

_She_ _looked_ _like an autumnal queen, with raging red hair that flowed like a scarlet river_ _down_ _to her breasts, freckles dusted over her_ _nose_ _and cheeks like hidden raindrops he ached to get a taste of. Her skintone looked like it could of been kissed by Helios himself_ _with_ _the_ _way it glew, the days of endless sun easily detectable. Her lips were_ _full_ _and the color of peaches, makeup_ _enhancing_ _her features instead of transforming her angelic attributes. Out of all the woman he had_ _crossed_ _in his eons of life, her figure was the most stunning to Hades. Her body,_ _which_ _was covered in a gold and tightly fit gown, resembled a fuller hourglass. She was healthy and thriving in the overglow. But her eyes..._ _although_ _clearly distressed and_ _searching_ _the tiles as if_ _they_ _had all the answers...were_ _gorgeous_ _in ways that_ _contained_ _stories he_ _wanted_ _the words for. Brown and rich that offset her_ _entire_ _character_ _._

 _Hades_ _wanted_ _to look into those eyes. He absolutely_ could. _For_ _hours_ _if_ _he were allowed._

_And yet she looked so sad. So afraid, trembling in her skin and face full_ _of_ _hurt. There was tug on his heart, one he_ _hadn't_ _ever felt in his life, that captured a million_ _emotions_ _at once. He wanted to take_ _all_ _her worries away. He_ _wanted_ _to kiss those lips and make her_ _laugh_ _. He wanted to dream in her_ _sunshine_ _and help her_ _thrive_ _in the moonlight. He was_ _entranced_ _by every little thing about her already and she_ _hadn't_ _even spoken yet._

_Her voice, Hades_ _could_ _already_ _imagine_ _, would be the most beautiful sound he would ever hear._

 _Hades was so ruptured in his_ _thoughts_ _that_ _it_ _hadn't_ _occurred_ _to_ _him_ _just how close the woman was getting, her entire body colliding_ _with_ _his in a force that changed worlds and raged oceans. It was like a_ _second_ _instinct_ _to latch onto her arm,_ _pulling_ _her swiftly to his chest_ _as_ _he monitored that striken look on her face. Confusion...solid and pure confusion. His entire froze and faded with the air as he_ _realized_ _just how_ _close_ _to her he was - breathing into her_ _skin_ _and arm latched securely around her petite waist._

_The Hymn. He still had the Hymn on and was_ _likely_ _either terrifying or_ _causing_ _her even more unneeded stress._

_Deadpanned, he_ _didn't_ _even question_ _using his_ _free_ _arm to take the helmet off, her entire face_ _changing_ _at the sight of_ _him. She was so_ _much_ _shorter than him, but their chests were still connected,_ _their_ _hearts_ _in_ _sync to perform their song. When she found his eyes,_ _burning_ _into hers with a passion he_ _didn't_ _even know he possessed, the entire world was_ _nothing_ _but a minority. There was only her. Her and him._

_Then_ _her eyes wondered. The molten brown_ _catching_ _the light to_ _become_ _a circulated sun of fire, unrelentless in_ _their_ _search to map out his_ _entire_ _being. Hades had_ _never_ _felt so exposed and open to_ _somebody_ _in his entire life._ _He_ _welcomed the_ _newfound_ _feeling,_ _wishing_ _to speak words to promise her the grounds at her feet. He wanted her. He_ _wanted_ _her in ways that broke him. He wanted to know her name, wanted to revel in her soul_ _and_ _press his lips to hers._

_She was so_ _much_ _more gorgeous up close. Most men would explain that Aphrodite_ _was_ _the_ _most exquisite creature to ever walk the planet, but this_ _woman_ _easily_ _put_ _the Goddess of Love to shame. She stole beauty from the comets and shone like the brightest star. Uncomparable. Easily uncomparable._

 _He wanted to speak. He wanted to say something,_ _ask_ _questions_ _and tell her stories for ages. Except her lips were moving and he could only stare into her eyes._

_"Hi." The sound was soothing, warm and so, so lovely. Her voice was like music_ _streaming_ _from Apollo's magical harp. His heart skipped._

_"Hello, I'm so sorry." Liar. As if he was sorry. The Fates knew damn well that he_ _wasn't_ _._

_"For what?" When she whispered like that - like he was the only_ _person_ _she'd ever seen, chills raked down his spine._

_And yet he still laughed,_ _the_ _sweat_ _gathering at his brow suggesting how badly he_ _didn't_ _want to mess this up. On the_ _outside_ _he was_ _collected_ _, but on the inside_ _he_ _was screaming._ _Another mask. But the way_ _she_ _was looking at him...it provided every sense that_ _she_ _could_ _see through him._

 _When he placed his forehead against hers,_ _only_ _for_ _seconds_ _, his whole body was_ _alit_ _to ignite. Gods_ _it_ _was so right. So right and so_ _beautiful_ _._ This _was right. They were_ _right_ _._

_"Well,_ _I_ _should of moved out of the way." Should have, but doing something you should do_ _wasn't_ _always the thing you wanted._

_A red brow rose,_ _questions_ _forming in her_ _eyes_ _. It was then he realized how tightly he held her waist, as if they were_ _lovers_ _that had_ _every_ _intent to stay that way. He_ _moved_ _,_ _regaining_ _his_ _posture_ _and letting her collect_ _herself_ _. He fiddled with_ _his_ _helmet_ _while_ _clearing_ _his_ _throat_ _._

_"Oh yes, for making me question reality itself?_ _I'm_ _not joking_ _I_ _seriously considered slapping myself." Laughter filled the voice, and Hades swore he never felt so alive._

_"Well_ _I'm_ _glad_ _I_ _gave you some_ _level_ _of entertainment, this helmet can be useful after all."_

_She must know, he thought icily. She must know by_ _the_ _Hymn. It was a terrible thought that crossed him, but what if she wanted_ _nothing_ _to do with him? What if his reputation_ _perceived_ _him terribly? He_ _wouldn't_ _be surprised, this was Olympus._

_Yet_ _when_ _she_ _smiled_ _to the floors, he knew that she_ _didn't_ _. He could read her._

_The_ _silence_ _that fell left him with decisions_ _he_ _instantly_ _wished_ _to ignore. She was so full of_ _light_ _, so_ _daring_ _and_ _wonderful_ _that he_ _couldn't_ _risk ruining her. If he walked away now, when the_ _strings_ _weren't_ _(completely) attached and_ _this_ _moment was simply a_ _dream_ _come true..._

_He would be doing her a favor. He needed to walk away. Stay away._

_Unless she chose otherwise._ _Unless_ _she possibly stopped_ _him_ _._

_"Well_ _I_ _suppose_ _I_ _should get going. I wish you the best afternoon." And then he bowed. He never bowed for another_ _being_ _in his lifetime._

_Turning around, his vision burned. Such a coward. Hades wanted to turn back, desperately. He wanted her to himself._ _To_ _spend_ _all that immortality could possibly have to offer_ _with_ _her and her alone._

_But it would be_ _wrong_ _to give in. To rob her of the_ _sunlight_ _she obviously adored._ _She_ _was the rose that thrived in the light while he was simply the shadows_ _that_ _seeked homage in the dark. Those two attributes never went together._

_"Will_ _I_ _ever see you again?" His whole body froze, stiffening against the suddenly cold air._

_She_ _stopped_ _him._

_He_ _didn't_ _even need to try._

_The fire spread, a smirk of pure happiness settling as he half-turned to face her, her face pained._

_"Only time will tell." No more lies. "After all, I can imagine we're here for the same reasons?" The ceremony. The adventure that had already began of three days._

_And when she nodded, he felt at peace. He turned around, roaming the halls once again, the smile on his_ _face_ _bright._

_One_ _thing_ _was for sure. That woman would be his wife._

_Even if it killed_ _him_ _._

**~**

Persephone knew she was not alone when she reached her father's towering parlor, heart still recovering from the greeting with the stranger minutes ago. 

There was a power in the room that was intangible, every single thing Persephone thought she understood being tested. 

She was almost afraid to say the wrong thing and the conversation hasn't even began yet. Her sisters had expressed very different opinions on their father to Persephone for years - Athena being his obvious favorite while Artemis simply viewed him as a pig. And of course Mother never truly had the greatest expression of him...after all he was seemingly the hatred that burned her heart. But Persephone never allowed her view of Zeus to be skewed by the opinions of others. She was too kind-hearted for that, dreaming too hard of this moment for years. 

"Zeus?" She softly called, eyeing the pieces of the parlor with curiosity. Paintings full of life hung across the mint-green walls, telling ancient tales that Kore could both identify and not identify. The stories she wasn't here for. The room was littered with couches and seats, instruments and bookshelves. Even weaponry of the highest order hung in specific sections of the room. More personality then she had expected. 

But when a slim figure emerged from the balcony outdoors, Persephone's throat went bone-dry. The blood in her face rushed to her cheeks, her body going stiff. 

The woman was standing proudly in front of her, every inch a queen with a look of indifference on her beautified face. Her hair was pinned into a curly ponytail of dark brown, capturing the sunlight with ease. Her eyes were a dark brown, almost black and staring unrelentlessly into Persephone's eyes. Although already tall, she wore black heels that were built for a ruler. Even the crown atop her head confirmed that suspicion. 

But Persephone didn't need clarification to know who the woman was. Her wits already provided an answer. 

For she stood in front of Queen Hera in the flesh, Goddess of Marriage, her aunt and her step-mother. 

Persephone almost wished she could magically disintegrate into the air, because the way Hera held eye contact with her was...degrading. She was so intimidating that it hurt. It didn't even compare to her meeting with Aphrodite that morning. Hera knew she owned this palace as much as Persephone knew she was visiting. 

She loathed the silence and the growing awkwardness eating her alive by the minute. But what could she say? Judging upon the history Demeter and Hera had, any word could push the poor woman over the edge. 

"He just ran out to get me some water, child. He'll be back any moment." Hera stated, crossing her forearms over her chest. 

Persephone unfurled her hands, placing them behind her back and nodding silently. 

Then when the quiet settled again, Persephone wasn't sure if she was thankful when she opened her mouth or loathed it. 

"I'm sorry." She blurted out of the blue, Hera's surprise flashing across her face so quickly that Persephone nearly missed it. "I am so sorry for the damage I must of costed you." 

More quiet - more of the gods damned silence. It slithered amoung her bones, Persephone avoiding Hera's gaze as she looked down. 

There was a rustle of movement. Hera sat down on one of the many loveseats, waving a hand to the one adjacent to her. 

"Please, sit."

"Oh, I am completely fine-"

"Sit." This time her tone was assertive, not even asking. 

Persephone quickly shuffled to the loveseat in front of the ancient goddess, playing with her bronze nails. Already much of the nail polish was chipped. 

"I don't wish for you to apologize for something that was out of your control, Persephone. My husband and sister are the only ones to blame. Eighteen years and I still haven't received a formal apology from your mother. You have no duty of carrying out somebody else's mistakes."

The Goddess of Spring let it sink in, Hera's gaze heavy with something that resembled nurture...but also vulnerability? Persephone found her so impossible to read. 

"Your father is a man who is too prideful to renounce his mistakes. He will ignore until he goes deaf. I have always been confrontational and even cruel in my nature, but I will never size up an innocent woman for another's fault." 

The words kept flowing from her aunt's mouth, words that she knew were sincere. It hit Persephone that perhaps it wasn't through spite that Hera had her intentions...but experience. 

"If you are to take anything from me, an old pregnant goddess," Hera paused to let the shock register on Persephone's face. Brown eyes wondered down to see Hera's hand resting upon her abdomen, the bump one that was only noticeable if you were to squint. 

Three years ago when Persephone was only so shy of fifteen, the news had spread from Artemis that the Goddess of Discord had been born. Her name is Eris, and although Persephone was excited by the news, she was also numb to the news of Zeus's many offspring. But she was particularly happy that Zeus and Hera finally produced another heir together, and further proud of her father for not baring another child out of infidelity for the last three years. 

Now she stood in front of her step-mother, another heir blooming in her stomach. 

"Take that I love the five children he has blessed me with. Even when my two eldest make the same mistakes, and that is enough to prove me worthy of compassion. I know motherhood is enough to change any woman, and I understand that Demeter was in distress. She whisked you away and didn't think twice of apologizing. But believe me when I say this: Zeus is elated that you are here. I will not step in and pull some stunt to ruin your relationship with him. It isn't my right." 

There wasn't a hint of anger in her tone, not a crumb of jealousy detected. It was incredible to process her words and feel them, and Persephone knew that her words were genuine. She realized in that quiet that there was a strong possibility that her and Hera could become close if her mother allowed her to. She wouldn't mind developing a friendship with the goddess. In fact she could envision it. 

"Thank you," Persephone replied with a smile. They were two words, but the nod from Hera told her that it was all enough. 

Behind them a door squeaked open, Hera indifferent as Persephone turned to face the ancient entity walking in with a tall glass of crisp water. When the realization dawned on her, the goddess in gold stood up, the anxiety returning as she fought to maintain her grip on her emotions. 

The man that walked in was tall with a muscular build, his dirty blonde hair short and untamed, as if he had been running his hands through his hair the entire evening. His beard was chopped short to fit his face, the suit he wore a navy blue and heavy. His crystallized light blue eyes scanned the room, stopping when he noticed his daughter, the water for his wife forgotten. Persephone caught sight of his features and was quick to notice how his jaw was curved to the equivalent of her own, her own eyes possessing the same twinkle despite the differentiation in eye-color. And when he smiled wide with welcoming, there was no doubting that this man was her father. 

Tears welled in Persephone's eyes, the years of picturing Zeus now all eliminated. 

"Dad?" She whispered, the word alienated on her lips. She felt odd. But the word felt even more fitting in the moment. 

Zeus rushed forward, placing the glass on the table seperating the sofas to step in front of Persephone. 

There was emotion on his face, heavy and real. A hand flew over his mouth as he looked to his daughter with curiosity in his eyes. Something akin to disbelief was alit in his eyes. A tear stained Persephone's cheeks, her throat thick as she clamped her mouth shut even further. She did not want to ruin her makeup but it was almost impossible to fight it. 

"You're so big." He said with a chuckle of disbelief. "And you have my facial structure." Persephone grinned, nodding with a stiffle as she looked to the ground. He had noticed too. 

He moved forward as he extended his arms, and Persephone stiffened whenever his hug enveloped her. She looked to Hera sipping on her water awkwardly, and the Goddess of Marriage nodded at the look of surprise on her step-daughter's face. It wasn't until Persephone allowed herself to find comfort in her father's warmth where her muscles relaxed, her arms going around him as her face fell into his shoulder. 

And then more tears found their way to Zeus's shoulders, and it was then Persephone realized that her father would of been in her life if the damage between him and her mother was resolved. And that alone...broke her heart further. 

"I'm so sorry, daughter." One of his large hands gently raked through her fiery curls. 

The words were unspoken between them, but they hung in the air with a weight of a thousand worlds. She didn't have to ask what he was apologizing for to know. 

"It's okay." She whispered quietly back, feeling so terrible for letting the tears fall for mourning the childhood she never had. Not when her mother was somewhere in this castle missing her. " **I** forgive you."

She prayed to the Fates that her mother would somehow forgive her if news spread that she uttered those words.

**~**

The ballroom of Zeus's home was the largest room in the palace, so large that the setup was much more extravagant than Hades had expected to see. Only himself, the twelve major Olympians and selective few minor gods and goddesses were invited to Persephone's ceremony so he found the seating arrangements to be very coordinated. 

Despite the round tables spread all throughout the room (minor gods already took their seats in those tables), the long and infamous cherrywood dining table was at the end of the ballroom, fourteen chairs aligned in a perfectly straight line. It would appear that his sister-in-law of sixteen years had found her spot at the table, Amphitrite glowering at the laugh Poseidon unleashed beside her.

Love-sick fools. Then again it would be hypocritical of Hades to think that after meeting his redhead that afternoon. 

The Sea God and Goddess surprisingly hadn't blessed him with any nieces and or nephews yet, seemingly happy in their marriage. Hades was happy for the both of them for finding peace in a family that thrived in the toxic conditions that it has for ages.

In the middle of the room, where the most space possible was available, a large rug of pure gold sat - clearly the spot where his niece would provide them with what he could only hope was a pleasant presentation. He almost pitied the girl for her parentage. He could only pray she wasn't traumatized. 

Making his way over to his seat between Zeus and Hera, he let his presence be known through the misted shadows that rippled off his body, Zeus's eyes meeting his brother's. He looked happier than he had even seen him, as if some event transformed his entire view of the world. 

_That_ _can't_ _be good,_ Hades thought to himself silently, flicking a finger to glamor the Hymn of Invisibility's size to a simple lapel that he threw into the pocket of his dress pants. Usually he wouldn't go such lengths for efficiency, but unlike the rest of his family he has manners and knew how to use them. 

"You look bored, brother." Zeus commented from his right, the comment light-hearted. 

"And you look happy. Who the hell are you and where is Zeus?"

Hera snorted into her glass of...nectar? Which Hades found interesting. These family functions detailed bottles of wine for her alone. 

"It is my daughter's birthday. I'm just excited to see what the Spring Goddess can do." Fair enough. 

Hades's gaze strayed to a couple of seats away, his eyes landing on Demeter. She seemed to be in conversation with Hestia, although her eyes were distanced and she was entirely disengaged with their sister. He could tell just from one look that she was rotting in this place. Clearly all the memory was doing terrible by her. He almost...pitied her. 

Monitoring the remainder of the room, Hades felt disappointment drop into the pits of his stomach when he saw no trace of the woman from an hour before, completely ignoring whatever it was that Zeus was saying in his ear. Flashes of her face and soft skin possessed his mind, and he only snapped out of the daydream when Zeus clapped, the sound echoing throughout the grand room. 

"It would seem that we find ourselves here once again." 

_Somehow._

Zeus began one of his many speeches, causing Hades to huff and grab his glass of wine early, downing it with such speed that even Thanatos would be proud. Disbelief flashed across his features as he assessed the glass, realizing just how little his brother had given him. How did the wine _always_ run out so fast?

When Hera bumped him on the shoulder with a bottle of wine, he gave her a look like he would kiss the very ground she walked on. 

"Eighteen years ago, we all blessed me and Demeter's daughter with gifts that has carried her down a road of success. Today she proves to us that she is fit of claiming her title as the Goddess of Spring and Flowers." Even Demeter glowered, clapping along with her family, pride illuminating her blue orbs.

"I now welcome you our Spring Princess: Persephone!" The audience clapped respectively, turning to the the grand double doors on the other side of the room. 

And when those doors opened while the clock stroke six, Hades's heart stopped at the vision that opened those doors. His cheeks burned, the entire room swirling as his mind sputtered. It all made sense now. The power he felt when he touched her, the way she shone even in the darkness.

Because _she_ was standing there. His autumnal queen who was truly the flower princess, shining in gold and chocolate eyes alight with determination like she was going to wreck power amoung the room.

She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the child of thunder and spring. She wasn't simply a mortal woman - she was a driving force. 

The God of the Underworld had fallen in love with the Goddess of Spring. 

**~**

Persephone had never felt such anxiety in her eighteen years than she had when standing outside those ballroom doors, the loud chatter of the occupants inside doing no justice to her twisted stomach. Thoughts raced in her mind as her father announced her, each word coming closer and closer to her Claim. She daydreamt of scenarios both good and bad, most resulting in the bad. Yet everything boiled down to two situations that would impact her in ways that would change her entire world. She could run away and cause breakage to her title, or she could go into that room and show the gods of Olympus who she truly was. 

"...Goddess of Spring and Flowers." She could feel each tick of the clock slithering amoung her bones, taunting her. There was once a time Persephone wished for nothing more than the clock to speed, but right now she wished everything would just _stop._

Bile rose in her throat, nausea washing over her in rippling waves. Her body was becoming overwhelmed, and yet another scenario populated in her head at the disappointment that would overtake her mother if she was to see her now - shaking in cowardice. Anxiety ate away at her gut, pressure on her mind sparking every bit of the hidden power inside of her. 

She was going to explode. She was going to corrupt into a hurricane that would evolve into the most crushing tsunami - until every single wave seeked it's destruction on this castle. Persephone's breaths were rushed and cramped together, the air in her lungs so restricted that she gripped her midsection. Gods why did it feel like she was going to die? Die or combust out of losing control, she was horribly sure of. 

But miraculously, it all stopped when a pair of deep blue eyes sprung to her mind. And she just...she stopped.

Two brown eyes fluttered tightly shut, Persephone closing out the earth and all of it's sounds. She drove the pesky thoughts away with every bit of her attention, imagining the sunshine and peaceful things she was attracted to. She focused on one thing: the calm. Not the calm before the angry fury in all of her hurricanes, but just the calm. 

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. She focused on her breathing, the sickness in her stomach slowly vanishing. She would survive, even if it meant pushing through her struggles to cope - she had to. 

Athena's words from that afternoon echoed in her mind, reminding her of who she was. To overcome, you had to try. You had to _live._

"I am in control." Persephone whispered, eyes fluttering open just in time to hear Zeus announce her name, the room erupting in applause. "I am powerful." 

And when she pushed the doors to the grand ballroom open, the lights seemingly shining purely her, she remembered how easily _she_ attracted the light.

Eyes from every corner of the room bore to her, the gazes so intense that scarlet colored Persephone's cheeks instantly, her heart pounding as sweat gathered. _I am powerful. I am powerful. I am powerful._

The Goddess of Spring reached for her connection to the world beyond this imperial place, reaching for the flowers and the breeze and the whimpering wind that fueled her bones. Persephone felt the strength of one thousand plants replenish her as peace settled in her stomach, her body steady but aching to unleash her power. If there was anything in this world that she thrived in, anything in this world that she had truly mastered - it was **this.** Because it was at this moment, in front of all the people she did not know but know at once, that she knew that her home resided with the sun. 

**Kore** was the sunlight - warm and full of radiance; the picture of life. 

Persephone allowed her eyes to meet her mother's icy blue orbs from far away, the smile that outstretched on Mother's face one that made the girl feel as if she could complete this task with a bang. She felt...acceptance. Pride. 

She ignored the odd tug that pulled her heart in another direction...focused on the awakening bud that possessed her. 

Outstretching both of her arms to her sides, Persephone blasted a pedestal of rosies, lilies and daffodils, the structure was thick and precise that Persephone rose with her flowers. The bud was unblooming, and she felt so very alive. Gasps of amazement filled the void, Persephone avoiding eye contact with the ancient ones in order to suffice. She felt strong, her imagination racing at the new possibilities. 

And then that tug - that tug that was as old and as ancient as the world itself was straining her mind, Persephone struggling to regain control as she built the structure to stand taller. Because of her skill she was able to mask her struggles, mentally pushing back the pressure in order to create. 

Stopping only when she reached halfway to the ceiling, Persephone smiled towards the polished chandeliers, a blast of electrifying purple hitting the skies of the ballroom in order for vines to protrude the what-seemed to be unbreakable palace, even more gasps of excitement fueling the details of the green vine, thick and wrapping gently around Persephone's waist to lift her to the ceilings. The plant was bursting with energy, new in it's creation and loving beside it's creator. 

The show wasn't yet completed, her entire being abuzz as she faced the ceiling towering above the gods and goddesses, the vine secured around her figure. Persephone was absolutely glowing, the gold of her mermaid gown offsetting the sunshine in her skin. A smile lit her face as she reached for the corners of the ceiling, pushing all of her power to create intricate banners of a variety of flowers, the blasting stream of pastel pinks and purples creating lifeful plants that were as beautiful as glimmering jewels. Lavenders, crocuses, larkspurs, daisies, sunflowers - each and every flower you could think of twisting together to form arches of pure beauty, catching Aphrodite's engaged eyes and Zeus's prideful gaze. 

When the banners of flower reached her, she dusted over the finishing touches of her creations, ensuring versatility in the stretch of the roots. This would be the grand finale Persephone had dreamt of, the road of acceptance so close that she could taste it. 

Swinging down the vines in movement of such elegance that even the gods would compare her to an angel, Persephone let the vines guide her to the golden rug in the middle of the floor, the twisting green vines around her waist unfurling as she still held the heavy arches. This was it. She had never attempted to break her flowers, because for some reason that skill was practically irreversible with each attempt, but she pushed all of her might into the action. Planting her heeled feet into the ground and pulling on the arches, she slowly transferred her power to the flowers, mind straining underneath the pressure of that shadowy tug pressing her to look forward, her eyes turning against her will. She grit her teeth, closing those orbs of brown to regain control. The room was a cloud of pink dust, the gods looking around in curiosity as Persephone continued fighting the intruder and still transforming the room until finally -

The arches exploded in her hands, the pink cloud exploding into a flash of pure sunlight, the flowers raining down from the arch that Persephone had just created. Air was knocked from her lungs at the immediate reaction of _awes_ and the screams from the crowd around her, her eyes flying to the table where Demeter sat to see her Mother standing from her seat with a booming prescense, her blue eyes shining bright with tears.. The light in her eyes...the way it shone...made tears well up in Persephone's chocolate brown orbs. 

Several gods and goddesses stood from their seats in applause, the level of respect that Persephone felt in her heart causing her smile to widen. She felt the acceptance in her bones, the same sensation she had pictured for years. 

Except every emotion paused as she faced the Olympians' table, heart skipping several beats as she was met with a pair of familiar deep blue eyes, captivating and strong. Her eyes devoured the god encompassed in shadows, her world colliding with acknowledgement as everything suddenly snapped into place. The man she had met this morning...the man she was so effortlessly affected by...sat from the left of her clapping father. Sandwiched between Zeus and Hera, to he precise. And to the right of Zeus...was Poseidon, God of the Sea - undoubtedly. 

Realization struck her like the most powerful strike of lightning at the entity who looked absolutely bewitched by her act of power.

There was absolutely no questions to gather by his powerful aura - only a blood-stopping confirmation that filled the young woman with a strange surge of new curiosity, like calling to like. 

Persephone was entranced by the God of the Underworld.

**_Hades._ **


	6. four : because when you tamper with the flame you will burn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, we now have chapter four. I would like to alert you guys in advance that this chapter is very informative and loaded with information of some of our goddesses. I would like to apologize if my writing drags with this chapter, it's just simply that in my writing I like to tap in on any sourcable content to make the reading experience as interesting for you all :))) enjoy!!!
> 
> ~ A

**HADES WASN'T VERY SURE WHY** he stayed for the after-party following Persephone's Claim, but he was absolutely keen that with his emotions involved - an aspect he never added to the equation of decision making - he both ached to meet her in the middle of the room but at the same time forced himself to stay away, watching as the goddess stayed glued to the hip of either Demeter, Athena or even Hestia. It was exceedingly obvious that Demeter was against almost any male contact made with her daughter, her eyes radiating the pits of hell below whenever Hermes dared to step near the redheads. From his observations and knowledge of the melodrama possessing this family, he _couldn't_ be surprised. Not when Demeter insisted on her daughter be named something that translated literally to _maiden_ \- something that made a part of Hades scoff with every passing thought.

Not that maidenhood was considered terrible, but because he could already tell by just staring at Persephone that her discomfort and lack of confidence while around others was completely rooted with the very problem standing over her, watching her every movement; that problem being Demeter. It disgusted him to the brink of terrorizing anger. His sister was still swimming in a pool of heartbreak and cold jealousy from Zeus's rejection. So much that she would decide every monumental event in her daughter's life. It occurred to Hades just how dangerous that behavior was - locking the Spring Goddess up in seclusion would lead to her destruction.

And that thought, that very thought alone - horrified him to every end.

Footsteps drew him from his reverie, the God of the Underworld placing down his tall glass of wine in order to stare up into emerald eyes that sparkled purely of mischief. Hades withdrew the sigh that settled in his throat, rubbing his temples with two slim fingers. Peace would never befriend him in this place.

"Oh look who it is, my _favorite_ uncle." Aphrodite's tone dripped with dry humor. Hades's brow rose as she took a seat beside him, resisting the urge to throttle her. Out of the entire ballroom she just _had_ to grace him with her presence. "Well, maybe not favorite. Poseidon does exist."

Unsurprising. After all, Aphrodite did share a seventeen year old daughter with his brother. Rhode was the goddess of the island Rhode, watching over the island with such rule that even Hades felt as if his niece was quadruple her age. Poseidon cherished his daughter, often bellowing of how her intelligence easily made her a comparable goddess to the likes of Hera and Demeter.

Poseidon and Aphrodite's affair was one that was short-lived but powerful; unsurprising even for Poseidon. Hades was at least proud of his brother for staying faithful to Amphitrite - though it has only been sixteen years thus far. Despite the Goddess of Love's comment, he chose to ignore it.

It wasn't that Hades didn't like Aphrodite per se, it was instead how he found her to be distanced. Cold. Even conniving and vain at times from the stories he has heard. But just like so many he viewed that were apart of this tree of never-ending family, he could understand _some_ of her reasons. Reason number one being her birth of sea foam that triggered an uproar from the men of Olympus - all scouring over the poor woman like wanton wolves in heat. Hades was disgusted with such behavior, even more disgusted whenever Zeus married her off to Hephaestus without Aphrodite's consent simply because Zeus viewed his third eldest son as the ugliest amoung his family. It was cruel. A joke that Zeus found as the most solvable answer. He chose the most opposite of her and didn't think twice. Hades always tampered with the thought that Aphrodite's shallow exterior and numerous affairs (as wrong as they were) was her way to cope...to draw others away from the fact that the Goddess of Love was in a loveless marriage. She never got to choose. She wasn't even presented with the option.

_Isn't it so ironic? How little our titles define us?_

"Aphrodite I am not in the mood."

Hades answered with a solemn look on his face, eyes distanced to the laughing Spring Princess who was in conversation with Hestia, her mother towering over them. He took another sip of the strong alcohol, cursing his high tolerance for not taking away the pain.

"Pity." She commented, eyes examining her perfectly manicured nails. Her tone was enterlaced with solid boredom. "You see I only wanted to come over to engage in on the conversation of how you've been staring at my half-sister all of this evening, not even bothering to thank me for bringing something so special into your life."

Everything froze as he slowly turned his head to face her, his heart stammering at the look of twisted victory on her face. Hooked, lined and sinker. She caught him there. How had he not considered it at all? That his fate tied him so closely to the Spring Goddess's through Aphrodite's influence?

But...for what reason? For what reason would she present him with someone so full of light? So beautiful and captivating and...and everything. Simply _everything_.

"Why?" Was the only word Hades could grit. "Why would you do this?"

He left the words unspoken. _Why do you want me to ruin someone so perfect? Someone_ _I_ _don't_ _deserve under any circumstance because she will always be too good for me?_

Aphrodite shrugged, looking off to the direction of another table. He shouldn't have followed her gaze...but he did. Hades wasn't at all in shock when he saw her staring at Ares with such intensity, such passion, that he felt that he was an intrusion just for _looking_. It was common knowledge of the ongoing affair between the Goddess of Love and the God of War - even Hephaestus's anger towards Ares confirmation of everything he wished for in their marriage. A fiery flame that was impossible to let out, children that were divine and worshipped, and respect that was mutual.

Well, _nearly_ mutual. The affairs ruined bits and pieces of that.

Ares and Aphrodite had bore eight heirs together. Their eldest four being the group of minor gods known as the Erotes - bringing love and desire to life in four pieces. Aphrodite's first pregnancy was by far her harshest, even by Olympian standards. The Erotes were just shy of one hundred, all different but as sharp as swords. Eros was the pair's eldest, god of love and fertility. Anteros soon followed, becoming the god of requited love. Then came Anteros's counterpart; Pothos, god of unrequited love. The final key of the Erotes was Himeros, god of desire. A decade after the birth of the Erotes brought the twins that mirrored each other: Deimos, god of terror and dread, and Phobos, god of fear and panic. Eighty-seven years ago brought Adrestia, goddess of Vengeance. Many would entail that Adrestia was the most vengeful of the eight heirs - owning her title even further. And finally, eighty years ago Harmonia was birthed, the goddess of harmony. Who although Hades met very few times, he found Harmonia to be the most peaceful.

"Maybe I saw a successful future between two people who were polar opposites. Maybe I knew through Demeter's manipulation Persephone needs someone that will bring her the independence she is steadily losing. There is such power in her that she is deserving of a life where she can choose." Was there...emotion in her voice? "Because Hades, I know that you will never understand it, but I see so much of myself in her. Zeus didn't give me a chance. And right now, Demeter isn't giving her a chance. My biggest fear for any woman is that they lose themselves to somebody who is too cruel to understand their cries."

Hatred burned inside of Hades as he stared in the direction of his sister, the shadows gathering around him turning into a cold rage. Aphrodite wasn't foolish - she understood it just from a glance at Persephone. Just as he has.

"I am not a storyteller. I am only the deciding factor. Some loves I mess with out of revenge of vanity or even entertainment. I will admit as much in restriction. I am comfortable admitting as much to you because you are possibly one of the only genuine people in this room. You have nothing to gain from my revelations." The blonde was rising from her seat, face painted with that emotionless void again as she stared in the direction of her own husband. "But Aidoneous, I also promise to you that a very limited amount of loves bloom in success. They thrive because such a thing is sacred...unbreakable. _Do_ _not_ take my words with a grain of salt." Aphrodite looked him straight in the eyes as she stood, power crackling around her. _It's your choice,_ those eyes seemed to scream. "Have a wonderful night."

As she walked away, as her words left a lingering impact upon his soul, Hades knew then what must be done.

For Persephone.

**~**

Persephone was in absolute delight. She had never been to such a party before, the food almost as delectable as the recipes Mother cooked at the cottage and Apollo's music so divine that even the stories of his serenity didn't do the sounds justice. And the dancing! The dancing was exquisite, the energy of her after-party unmatched. She had engaged in numerous conversations with numerous goddesses, her particular favorite was getting caught up with her aunt Hestia, who she hadn't seen in years. Demeter seemed to be closest to her from the entirety of the Olympians, the three redheads spending an entire hour in the deepest discussion. 

However there was only one range of disappointment. Well, multiple that Kore would never admit to. Watching the people dance while she stood in the sidelines with Mother was saddening. She wanted to mingle further and explore, ask the gods questions of their origins and adventures. She even wanted to taste a mere drop of Dionysus's most lavish wines, the reputation behind them making the glass her mother held so much more alluring. 

Yet the greatest despair of the night thus far was the way she would stare to the corner of the room, Hades alone saved for the exception of his drink. It was easy to pinpoint when he was looking at her, his eyes devouring her whenever she wasn't looking, so burning that she had to keep the heat threatening to rise in her cheeks at bay. She was still recovering from the discovery, but it didn't affect her interest in him whatsoever. In fact it only rose more questions. Persephone's largest wish of the night was to talk to him. To speak to him for hours about the wars he fought in and if the Underworld was truly night forever. If he was the reason for her name and the details of the shadows surrounding him. She wanted to hear his voice, even if she had seconds. Every single time she did her best to occupy her thoughts away from him, he was right there again mentally - taking everything away in a blissfully annoying manner. 

She had read the books, pictured the scenarios through the eyes of her characters, dreamed and dreamed of remotely coming close to the emotion, and she wondered if this whirlwind of overpowering feeling was what so many described as **falling.**

Seven letters that both enticed her but terrified her all the same. Persephone has felt her mother's love since the very moment she was born, so what more could be needed? How much extra would have to be required in a life of fulfilling limitations?

_Nothing,_ the Spring Goddess assured herself in the most selfless lie, _nothing at all._

Yet when she looked in his direction - only at the times where he wasn't looking towards her - butterflies seeked homage inside of her stomach, a blush permanently staining her cheeks. Surely it was not falling, but more so flirting with the idea of being beside him. Was there already such a definition?

"Demeter, it's been decades!" An alienated voice full of power filled the air, Persephone's head turning to meet orbs so dark they were almost liquid coals. However, when the woman's eyes met Persephone's, they swirled with an ancient dark green. The young goddess's interest piqued as the woman winked in her direction, as if they shared a secret. 

The woman that approached her mother wore a daringly short layered toga of midnight black, the gold rims and edges enchanting the stranger's ancient demeanor. If Persephone could ever personify the word magic, she would absolutely draw this woman. Eyes upswept in coal black makeup combined with the defined triangular cupids bow of her lips outlined in pure black gave Persephone the impression that this woman thrived in the dark. Her caramel skin did wonders under the palace's lighting, the glow in her complexion matching beams of sunshine. The woman's glossy black hair was pinned in an elegant updo of a precise braided crown, a diadem sinking into the braids. The diadem was littered with detail: gems of stars, slithering serpents and even fiery torches concealed in the crown. Symbolic of the woman in her nature. 

"Hecate." Mother smiled sweetly, stepping forward to place a respectful kiss on the woman - Hecate's - cheek. The expression on her mother's face was warm and pleased. 

"I came to congratulate your daughter on her talents. It would seem that there is a great deal of power inside of her." Hecate offered Persephone a unique smile, only tailored for her. It made the sunshine in her heart thrive, finally recognition for her hard work paying off. 

Hecate's starful eyes sprung to Persephone's chest, the very core of her being pumping hot blood to her body. Her stare wasn't one that was daring or prerogative - instead analytical and puzzling, as if she could detect the seed of the hurricane underneath, the brewing cluster of angry emotions that could be provoked with the drop of a hat...

"Well, she did have a wonderful mentor! Being her mother and all, I take all of these compliments to heart." Demeter's voice was edged with a tone of drunken playfulness, Mother lifting the plentiful glass of alcohol to her lips.

The color lining Persephone's cheeks was quick to drain, some emotion akin to sadness exposed to her heart. She knew that she had a wonderful mentor, one that goddesses would die for just to get a taste of power. But Persephone wasn't hungry for that explosion of dark magic, only grateful that her gifts could thrive under Mother's watchful eyes. Except none of this would be possible without her effort, **_Persephone's_** effort, and knowing that her mother was taking everything so seriously was painful. 

Clearly her face was so easy to read that Hecate's flash of discomfort shone on her lovely face, embarrassment stabbing Persephone in the gut as she swiftly fixed her features. Hecate's eyes met hers in an expression that translated precise understanding. For seconds the women shared something deeper than emotion, only for it to be broken as Demeter spoke. 

"Hecate, I'm feeling rather dizzy. I would like to retire for the night. Persephone, come." Demeter placed the scarlet wine down on the closest table.

Sadness contorted in Persephone's stomach at the quick dismissal, her party still raging although she was about to leave. Damn the Fates above, because Hecate had noticed that, too. 

"Actually Demeter, how about Persephone stays a little longer under my aid? In fact, how about I escort you to your rooms and then come back to watch her?" It was as if Hecate's touch was magic, because the second Hecate placed a caramel hand on Demeter's skin she nodded, eyes opening and closing. 

Victory sprung to the goddess's heart, watching Hecate wink in her direction as she guided her mother towards the exit with two gentle hands.

"Stay safe, my little flower. I love you!" 

"I love you most, Mother!" She called over the music, a smile wider than the moon gracing her beautiful face as the two goddesses disappeared. 

How...had that just happened? She wasn't sure if she should be concerned, happy or even a combination that intermingled both. For the first time in eighteen years she was free to cater to herself and _her_ wishes. It was all so foreign that there was a strange taste on her tongue. Freedom. She could make her own choices, even if it was simply for the night. 

Automatically Persephone knew what she wanted, her chocolate eyes turning to the man so close but so far, noticing his burning gaze alighting her body on fire. Those eyes were gorgeous, prompting her to step forward, _daring_ her. She was so entranced, drowning in those striking blue eyes that the first step she took was instinctive, the second one that was knowledgeable of exactly what she wanted...

All movement had been broken when a small, feminine hand aligned with calluses halted the young woman, the Flower Goddess turning to meet the brown eyes of one of her many half-sisters. Persephone could detect Artemis's demeanor from even miles away, unneeding of even looking at her. Artemis was beautiful in a hardened way, only prompting for her dressing armour that concealed toned muscles and flawless skin. Her ombre blonde hair faded to a dark brown towards the ends, the curls hanging over her shoulders more feminine than she usually settled for. Persephone found the touch refreshing and natural. To Persephone, Artemis looked to be a queen of war. 

"Well there you are! I was looking everywhere for you and Demeter. Where is she anyways?" Her dark brown eyes roamed the radius of the ballroom, Persephone still recovering from her attempt to approach Hades. 

"Uhm well, Mother was feeling tired so she let me rock this one out on my own." A hand combed through fiery red curls, clearing her throat to gather her exterior. 

"That's strange, she never let's you out of her sight." A pair of thick eyebrows shot up, only going down as she shrugged out of indifference. "But anyways, how do you feel? You looked amazing up there." 

Artemis grabbed her sister's hands, providing a dazzling smile to ease the tension. And in a snap, Persephone was back. Back to her sunshine-filled smiles and thankful responses. 

"Oh my gods it was so incredible! I felt...I felt truly in control. As if my grasp on my powers were fully developed. It's so therapeutic, you know? Finally understanding that all the training was for something?" She felt as if she was in the correct headspace, raving about the evening to Artemis. 

Despite her statement being partially a lie.

"Oh I totally do. And it only goes up from here. After the Claim you are more accepted into the importance of Olympian culture. I'm so proud of you." Tears of gratitude welled in the Flower Princess's eyes, Artemis catching a tear duct with a slender finger. She had achieved acceptance. 

"I really need to stop crying." Persephone giggled, sniffling up the liquid, trying to contain herself.

"No, no, no! You deserve it. The title and the ownership. You built a name for yourself." She held her thin shoulders, nodding in promise. "Now, enough with the crying! We've got more people to meet!" 

Persephone giggled as Artemis grabbed her hand, whisking her in the direction of that beautiful music. The tune was more slurred, quick-paced in it's nature and paired wonderfully with the running the two women did to race across the ballroom. The music was getting stronger, bringing color to her eyes. She could _feel_ this music in her bones, the aura possessing her to want to move until her feet gave out. They approached a man of pure golden pair playing a grand piano, his fingers moving with such ease that Persephone pondered if he could play in his sleep. Of course there was a band behind him, the song trailing faster to reach its end of climax. Yet the band was only carrying the undertone while the man produced the most successful equations of the rhythm. 

She breathed in the music, her whole soul becoming. When her eyes fluttered open, she was surprised to find that the man's multi-colored eyes were on her solely, his gaze striking and unrelentless. One orb was colored a solar blue, the other an earthy brown that twinned exactly to Artemis's. His jaw was square; constructed powerfully. The biceps under his dress coat corded with veins as his fingers worked the piano. And his hair, which looked to be woven of pure gold, shone like the brightest of sunlight. To curious bypassers, many would assume that he was playing only for Persephone. 

She supposed he was handsome, at least by the likes of public eyes, but... he was nothing in comparison to Hades. She shyed away from his look, looking to the tiles of hardwood.

When the music ended with a bang of percussions and on-the-dot notes, the audience screamed for his talent, Artemis clapping proudly beside her. Persephone smiled gratefully and offered her own rounds as well.

The man stood tall, turning to the band of nymphs with a nod as they commenced. It was impossible to ignore how the music downgraded in quality. 

"Sister," The man said with a deep voice, hugging Artemis lightly while the surprise settled in Persephone's stomach. When the god turned to her, she felt his gaze inspect her entire body from head to toe, the gaze almost predatory. 

"And other sister," He held out a hand of tanned gold, Persephone taking the polite route and placing her hand in his, an explosion of oddity going off as he bowed down to place his lips upon the top of her hand. Persephone looked around in empty embarrassment, noticing one of the nymphs playing the symbols look at her with twisting green envy.

She was put off by the sudden acquirement of male attention, the subject foreign to her. She knew right off the bat that this man was Apollo, God of the Sun, music, male beauty and twin to Artemis. Apollo was notorious for his acts of romantic endearment, but just like her father and Hades, Persephone was kind enough to ignore the horrific stories she has heard of the god. It wasn't fair to bestow him with negativity when she had just met him.

"Persephone, I would like to introduce you to our brother-" 

"Apollo." Persephone introduced him herself, earning a smirk from the god. 

"Lovely and knowledgeable. Is there anything you can not do, Persephone?" 

She almost laughed. If only he knew. If only he knew how truly sheltered she was, how the only good she could bring this world was flowers. 

"I suppose I can't play the piano at the speed of light like _some_ people." She commented, this time earning a chuckle. 

"Well that just comes simply. After all I'm sure there is another deity on this universe that comes close to my talents." Apollo shrugged off his jacket, making it noticeable at how his muscles unfurled in front of the redhead. She found it...unorganic. strange. As if he was trying to depict something she wasn't interested in. "...not."

"Show-off." Artemis scoffed with a roll of her eyes, playing with one of the daggers aligning her jeweled belt.

"Why have gifts if we won't ever use them? Isn't it fair that they keep the natural order? What is so wrong with being boastful?" 

His questions confused Persephone, clashing with her views. His first two rhetorics made sense to a degree, but the third she disagreed with. Becoming boastful out of vanity was what made the gods (or anybody truly), inauthentic. It made a person appear as unappreciative.

She was almost confused with herself when her mouth flew open to oppose.

"Well then the person becomes encompassed in an disgusting ego that nobody wishes to be around, my brother." 

The twins were striken quiet at her words, even the nymphs almost falling out of tune. Apollo's face flashed red, the comment clearly not the thing he wanted to hear from her lips. Persephone felt a wave of heat flush through her face, her apologetic nature taking hold of her once again.

Who had possessed her to say such a thing? How did those words come out of _her_ mouth? It was so unlike her that even Artemis's face revealed that. 

"Oh, I'm so sorry-" 

"No," Apollo said sincerely, stepping forward to offer a dazzling smile as if he wasn't striken with anger moments ago. "Quite honestly I expected that redhead rage to be evoked. My apologies." 

This man came with all kinds of surprises. Maybe...maybe her thoughts were jaded, but Persephone seriously wanted to believe that Apollo's intentions were clear, despite the aura she was receiving. She tried her hardest to focus on the good, the stories of how Apollo was the conqueror of the mighty Python at only his infant stage, saving his mother Leto and twin sister, and also how Artemis described a tale of Apollo's most selfless enactment of granting the heroic Admetus with immortality. 

But yet, a kernel of alert still bloomed inside of her, the bad still threatening the good overlook. 

"I think you'll find that I may be the kindest redhead you'll ever come across in your immortality, Apollo." Persephone promised with a smile of forced endearment to the Sun God. 

Those differently colored eyes held hers with sensitivity that she could only assume was genuine, soothing over the aura of uncertainty. His charisma covered him in the guilt-section, too. Oh he was _good_. 

_Or maybe_ , Persephone thought to herself, _you may be too forgiving._ The thought crippled in her heart. 

"I think I would like to understand more of that kindness tomorrow, then. After your luncheon with us Olympians, hm?" 

Persephone had almost forgot about her feast tomorrow, a traditional social event that took the god or goddess a day after the Claim. It was meant to be a date of importance, blooming the relationships of the newly anamed god and the Olympians. 

Of course Mother would be there tomorrow, so possibly she would let her duties as Demeter's daughter get in the way, but her newfound freedom of making her own choices was too unexplored to let down the offer. Mother wouldn't be pleased, but this could strethen the diplomatic ties between Apollo and Demeter...

"You're on then." Persephone said in a meek voice with a soft smile, causing the Sun God's lips to curl upwards. 

The tug enveloping her gut pulled helplessly on her stomach then, the world giving every single alert that her choice felt so much like a mistake.

But Persephone chose to ignore, turning to the table of delicacies as she soothed her growing anxiety. 

~

Hecate never settled for ignorance at an obvious problem, but seeing the daughter of Demeter so openly uncomfortable with her mother made her skin _crawl._ She always found something so strangely off about Demeter each time she crossed the woman, but only now in Demeter's lengthened motherhood had she noticed the change. It was a change that she had seen widely popular amoung even mortal woman, a problem that Hecate had always been intensely against. It was second nature to give Persephone the much needed independence that she craved, even for the night.

She would fulfill Demeter's wish of watching over the dear girl, but not in an approach that was comparable to a raging babysitter. Although Hecate was comfortable with admitting she could see potential in the new woman, she was also absolutely sure Persephone was alienated to the ill intentions of some gods.

Persephone, the Goddess of Spring, seemed to be controlled. Controlled and too uncomfortable to be comfortable enough to speak about her growing emotions to her own mother. Of course having a positive upbringing through her positive mother made her detached from that situation, but she knew all too well through her destructive father that any parent could risk the downfall of any child.

But yet, Hecate couldn't ignore the reminder of the growing power inside of the sweet girl...even stepping near her screamed to her of the growing magic that could either trigger a new hope for the gods or a new destruction...

The Goddess of Witchcraft repelled against the ill bubbling of her stomach, shutting the doors to Demeter's quarters with haste. The woman had fallen down on her pillows like a newfound drunk. She _almost_ pitied the woman. Almost.

The ancient Titaness transported into the ballroom with a snap, her entire being becoming shadow as she skillfully found her feet on the shimmering tiles of the ballroom again. Her pupils assessed the room, falling back into a collected comfort when she spotted the redhead talking warmly with the Goddess of the Hunt.

She would monitor her. Just from afar.

Hecate greeted Nyx with warmth as she settled for a caramelized ambrosia square at one of the long buffet tables, the food of the gods rich on her tongue. Hecate made it a mission to only enjoy ambrosia on special occasions, the nostalgia that played in her memory at the taste having the power to transport her to her childhood again. It was no secret that Hecate was very, very old despite her beautiful appearance. Everybody there knew that the Goddess was older than the Olympians themselves and thrived as a Titaness. It was because of her helpfulness and restoration of the crossroads that Hecate wasn't allowed to be locked away in the depths of Tartarus with the destructors of her family.

Well that and her tie to the man that sat in the shadows of the room, watching the woman of the night with intensity that Hecate was meant to be watching. A twist of a smile graced the goddess's lips, her legs shifting to meet one of her dearest friends.

"You know, you should seriously wipe the drool off your face before one of the servants comes through with a mop."

Hecate announced her booming presence, Hades's blue eyes meeting the goddess's with a pleasant uplift of his lips. Millions of memories unfurled between the ancient ones

"And if I decline?" He asked with laughable opposition.

"Then as your elder I will be forced to kick your ass."

Hades scoffed at the Titaness, swiping a hand over the seat beside him with a silent question. Hecate sat down, taking another bite of the ambrosia square. She was relishing in the taste, almost afraid to eat all of the snack too fast.

"Any louder and everybody will assume your orgasming." Hades commented with a lifted eyebrow at the half-eaten ambrosia square that Hecate held in her hand, still chewing on the contents in her mouth.

Hecate slapped the man's shoulder, _hard._ A rumble of a laugh following the slap.

"Asshole. See and this is why I quit." Hecate commented comically.

"Interesting way of you to word your _honorable discharge._ "

Two hundred years and he still let everybody know of her _exact_ wording. You say one thing and it follows you for the rest of immortality.

But they both knew why. They both knew that Hecate thrived in the Underworld as Hades's right-hand. After the fallout of the Titans's Age, Hecate had found her true happiness working for Hades, traveling through the crossroads and the Underworld to visit her lover. It wasn't until three-hundred years of a secret love affair that only Hades knew of that made her quit, her love wanting to be around her all the time.

Stepping away from the Underworld was painful, but she felt comfort in Hades's support. He knew that she found somebody that made her dance and scream and sing, and that was enough. Enough to step back in respect, and enough that she knew the Underworld would always be okay because Hades was the most powerful ruler Hecate had crossed in her entire lifetime.

Until two years passed and the woman she ached for pushed her away, the pressure that Olympus had pushed for in same sex relationships ruining her life. Selene - the Titaness of the Moon - was too affected by her diplomatic structure and prone to the opinions of others for Hecate. Hecate was crushed to hear that Selene had fell desperately for the mortal man Endymion, baring him child after child in such a short period of time.

Hecate hated that burning pain in her heart, pushing for a life of quiet in the crossroads after the rejection. She couldn't look at a man or woman the same way she looked at Selene, not even if it killed her.

"I'm sorry about Selene." Hades whispered, as if he could read her mind. His tone bled with genuineness she seeked comfort in. "You deserve so much better."

She popped the remainder of the square in her mouth, leaning back in her seat as the fast-paced song slowed to a stop. She noticed Persephone and Artemis approaching Apollo.

"I'm fine, truly. I have learned to accept it. It has been centuries and although I still think of the situation everyday, I believe I am just grateful to experience a love so deep." The silence that followed was brief but comforting, Hades nodding along with the words.

"So, who's the new advisor? Are they any better than me?" There was a new light in her eyes as she faced him, noting the way his eyes flew to the Flower Princess every so often, clicking back to her.

How intriguing.

"Thanatos? He's like a brother. But like, everything a brother should be.. Very...hard-working." Then, another pause. " _In his own way_ I suppose." He chuckled to himself, an inside joke clearly on his mind.

Faces flashed through Hecate's line of memory, a Thanatos meeting none of them. Because of her lineage that connected her to Nyx, she knew that the Night Goddess's union with Erebus enabled her to produce a pair of twin gods that represented both sleep and death. Thanatos fit the criteria as God of Death.

"Well if he is ever to ruin his advisory I will find a way to kill him and take his job in the process."

"Very comforting." Hades commented with a grin, striking eyes moving across the room back to Persephone.

Hecate froze as the look on his face clearly fell, twisting into anger and rage and oh so clear _death._ Her gaze flew to Apollo bowing to kiss Persephone's hand, nausea twisting in the pits of her stomach.

"I don't like that at all." She whispered, already sensing the Sun God's sickening objectives from across the room.

Hecate knew of the horror stories that clouded Apollo's name. His misogynistic behavior was already triggering enough red flags, but his mindset of getting whatever he wished was truly destructive. Kronos raged his rule exactly atwin to those thoughts, and now he rotted in the deepest region of Tarturus. Not that Apollo's power was on the same level as Kronos's, but even exemplifying that type of behavior was dangerous.

"I will fucking kill him." Hades growled, gripping the glass so tightly in his grasp that Hecate could see ripples of shatters already forming. It was mind-numbing. She had barely seen Hades so affected.

"Hades." She said firmly, his angry eyes _seething_ as they looked into hers. "Now is the time to be discrete. She is too kind, too in her shell to realize his actions. We must watch over them both. But quietly."

He nodded back to her, the plan already set in both of their minds. These next two days would be a disruption of whatever Apollo was planning, or even _thinking_ to plan. Hecate wasn't entirely sure why she was so invested in keeping Persephone out of harm's way - maybe it was because of her strong moral compass, or even an odd connection that webbed the two women, but it was set in her mind that this was the way.

However, when she looked to the God of the Underworld, she knew those eyes too well. The way they stared at the Goddess of Flowers with a galaxy of emotion, no matter how hard he tried to cover it with a mask.

She knew he would never be the same again.

Because when you tamper with the flame, you will burn. 


	7. five : the innocence of persephone

**WARNING**   
**THE CONTENT OF THIS CHAPTER IS NOT MEANT FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES**   
**HEAVY DEPICTIONS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE LIES AHEAD**   
**VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED**

**THE WARMTH OF THE AIR** coupled with the shade of the grand gazebo outside was like heaven to Persephone's skin - although the endless sunshine of Helios claimed the earth each and everyday, she found that Mother's pleasantries often made the world so much warmer. Demeter had once told her that running the world was like a system of clockwork. There were many key figures to the monumental place that is earth, figures that were all assigned their jobs and tasks to carry out in order to remain order and peace. If even one deity brought failure to their job, then the moving system would cripple. 

And the majority of the moving system sat beyond her, chatting amongst themselves with a twinge of awkwardness that even Persephone herself couldn't ignore. The poor girl had to hold back her cringe each time her mother and father would remotely _look_ at each other, worlds and planets falling in the midst of their wake. And gods, Hera and Mother's interactions were so much harsher! She had to fight the urge to stab herself with the butter knife to end the torture. 

So instead she focused on mingling with the deities she could reach. She sat sandwiched between Mother and Hestia, Hestia's warm essence easing her discomfort. Even being around the Goddess of the Hearth brought a sense of peace back that she had lost. Persephone smoothed out the ripples of her warm yellow sun dress, the color blinding against the sun. She opted to wear her hair up today in an elegant ponytail, the style one that she underwore. To Persephone's dismay she wasn't allowed to prode around the grass barefoot, her connection to the world depleted. Around the Olympians she would have to be contained; elegant. And although polite, a part of her wished to roam the enstranged meadows and explore Olympus's woods. Which was only mere yards away.

  
She could feel the weight of a gaze across the table - and to her utter disappointment - not the gaze she had wished for. Those eyes were boring, possessive in their nature and curling around her veins to pump cold blood. Despite the sunny weather goosebumps clouded along her bare arms, the world feeling so much colder. She hadn't forgotten her planned meeting with Apollo straight after the luncheon, but she also hadn't brought it up to Mother, either. It was almost cruel how she was glad of the affirmation, just to have a back-up plan if she got to afraid to be alone with a male for the first time in...her lifetime.

But, it wasn't her first time alone. Not when _he_ was sitting directly across from her, a war of commotion triggered in her brain as her eyes strayed from Apollo to the Lord of the Underworld. He never dressed for the elements, she had noticed in such a short time. While every other god wore togas or even shorter garments, Hades wore dress pants of the darkest black and a long-sleeved dress shirt of navy blue - just a tiny pop of color. Something, she was sure, he wasn't used to. It was almost endearing. He still looked more handsome in the sunlight, his face resting on a bulky hand, his muscular arm bent on the elegant chair's arm. His clouded blue eyes strayed to the distance, soon capturing hers.

It was impossible to ignore the way her heart ran, his hand covering the small smile that possessed his features. A teasing eyebrow rose only barely. _Well hello there,_ he seemed to speak. And when she felt a shoe touching hers under the table, her heart soared.

"Miss, would you mind fetching me some more water?" Demeter's slurred words ruined the moment, one sun-kissed hand on her forehead with a grimace contorted into her features. The closest servant ran off, now on a mission to retrieve water for the goddess.

"Are you okay, Mother?" Persephone asked with contained alarm.

From across the table, Hades smirked, raising a glass of wine provided by Dionysus himself to his lips.

"Too much to drink, Demeter?" He was baiting her, clearly. And it was obviously working because the scowl that Demeter shot to him was full of venom.

Here we go.

"Oh I apologize for not being a raging alcoholic when I have important responsibilities to attend to." Persephone leaned back in her seat, huffing out her embarrassment.

"What was that about raging alcoholics?" Dionysus called from the end of the table.

"Interesting view. I drink because of my lack of freedom and _responsibilities_."

Persephone had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling at the remark, Hades's face bored as he inspected his empty glass.

The expression that overtook Demeter's face with deadly, that limited patience shining through as she clasped her two hands together, leaning forward to come closer to Hades in threatening intimidation. But the god was unfazed, staring into his sister's eyes, not backing down nor letting go. The air was intense, all the gods and goddesses of the table engulfed in the quarrel.

"And tell me, brother," She spit out the final words, as if it was poison on her tongue. "Tell me what the hell is so stressful about listening to dead souls all day? What the hell do you do that brings importance to our world?"

There were gasps, short reactions of falling mouths and even a curse from Zeus's lips. Persephone however, was scandalized. Mouth gaped open in surprise at the rudeness - the _nerve_ \- that had taken Demeter.

" _Mother!"_ Persephone exclaimed, Demeter's eyes shooting to her daughter's in anger. They seemed to scream in her direction, as if her opposition disgusted her to every end. The look alone made Persephone sink down deeper into her seat, as if she had been stung. Belittled.

"Okay, fair enough." Hades began, rising from his seat as angry shadows rippled from his being, fear evoked in their wake. "Explain to me, Demeter, what you know of building an entire third of the world from _nothing._ From blackness and soil to regain order. Have you _ever,"_ He stopped, smoothing over his face as if it would help contain himself. "had to build such a precious thing in _days?_ I had to categorize the deserving and undeserving from each other, I am forced to make decision after decision with the risk of making a mistake for everybody in the afterlife. I grow hundreds of years old by the _day._ I hold our fucking evil father in a cage from the trenches of Tarturus to keep your ungrateful ass safe." The silence that followed was striken, wordless. "You may think that you fertilize the world and keep an ever-lasting glow of sunshine over it, you may think that your importance is beyond mine, but let me tell you one thing." From across the table, he leaned over, getting in Demeter's face to further the point. "I will not take your bullshit in silence because everybody is afraid of your never-ending temper tantrums. _**Know. Your. Place.**_ "

In a snap, the God of the Underworld had disappeared, the silence that fell over the Olympians heavy.

Persephone was voided, feeling betrayal rooted in her own bones for agreeing with Hades's outburst on Mother, but all at once taken aback by the bite of his words. She had never known what he was capable of with that power, the power that threatening to overstep the edge of an invisible mountain her mother held up. Brown eyes glued to the table as her arms crossed over her chest, she felt the legs of the dining chair sinking angrily into the wood of the gazebo beside her, anger on swift feet.

"If everyone will excuse me, I'm no longer hungry." Her words were so cold, as if everything had been ruined. The chill skittered along Persephone's spine as Demeter walked away, leaving thirteen occupants in her wake.

"Well," Zeus announced from her forward left. "Wouldn't be an event with this family without our temper-tantrums would it now?"

**~**

Half an hour brought the death of the luncheon, Persephone feeling somewhat recovered from her mother's hate-filled gaze as she stood up from her seat, the only gods remaining being herself and Apollo.

She tried to push down the never-ending guilt that swallowed her, but it was all such a painful lump in her throat that tears bubbled to her eyes. 

When would the stress stop? When would her mother stop looking to her as such a child? She thought that making the transition from adolescence to adulthood would be so much smoother on both her and her mother, but it all it left in days was a tornado. Persephone loved her mother, with every ounce of love that this world could provide, but there was so much pressure being placed upon her that it was bringing her to the point of fearing the wrong decisions. But how could anything be right...if she couldn't even move a bone without being judged?

"I hate those sad eyes." Apollo approached her, the soft smile on his face encouraging Persephone to place on the mask again, doing her hardest to swallow down the sadness like chucks of glass.

"I'm fine, just..." But she couldn't find the words. Well, she could. Just speaking them would be bringing them into existence. 

"Stressed?" He questioned, his gold hair catching the light. She nodded simply, wondering deeply how he spoke with such humanity. 

"Demeter can be harsh, but Hades can be even harsher. I don't blame her for lashing out at the man." A red brow instantly piqued, another opinion clashing with her own. 

However she wouldn't judge another for their differentiation in views. Again, it would be turning her back on what she believed in. 

"Why do you say that?" She leaned against the table, arms crossed over her chest as she looked to him in puzzlement. 

"I've never agreed with his vibe or even how he views himself. He has always been so cocky, thinking he means more than the rest of us...today confirmed that enough." Entirely ironic coming from him, but Persephone didn't have the energy to debate. 

He outstretched his arm, signaling for their walk to being. Anxiety ate away in Persephone's gut, but she pushed down the emotion, evening out her breathing in able to loop their arms together. A smile warmed his face as he looked to her, something in his eyes glinting with something unidentifiable. It made her feel...disconnected. Off. They moved forward in the direction of the woods, much to Persephone's excitement. Nature. She ached and urged for it all. The towering trees welcomed her with open arms, Persephone's heart soaring as she moved a smidge faster than Apollo. 

"Excited?" He chuckled, their legs off sync with another's, Persephone hauling this muscular god around with speed. 

"I'm the Goddess of Spring, I'm a nerd for these things." She agreed, the barrier of the trees finally broken as they ascended into the wood, the airy glow of the land magical. 

The river bank feet away was almost as clear as the river gracing her cottage, the rainbow fish swimming within it's small ripples reflecting the sun it a beautiful kaleidoscope of color. The trees were abundant with life, different shades of wood accompanied with different color. The woods was elevated, smooth and bountiful with creatures. The second that they approached the river, Persephone threw her heels off, sinking her legs into the river as she sat at the edge. She felt a crackle of energy replenish her, eyes closing as she connected with the life rooted to the woods. She could hear it all. The bears scouring for berries, jack rabbits scampering over the dirt, ants working together to survive off of the remedies of food. The hurricane, the anxiety and everything in between was put to rest. 

Behind her, Apollo watched the Spring Goddess in her element, leaning against a tree as his eyes devouring the beauty that was in front of him. She looked so innocent, so oblivious to the evil of her surroundings. The hidden measures that truly staked the world to hell. The lace strap of the yellow sundress fell from her shoulder, Apollo's mind plagued with thoughts. Thoughts that were truly dark - dark in a sense that could destroy her heart. 

From behind her, Persephone felt the rustling of footsteps, the warmth of the Sun God pressing against her shoulder as he joined her in her setting. Her chocolate brown eyes, now engulfed in sunlight which made them appear like honeyed amber against glass, skyrocketed open. The goosebumps returned in an instant, body stiffening against the one soft finger that circled intricate patterns into her bare shoulder. Something sick settled into her stomach, bile rising in her throat as that fingernail scraped against her soft skin. It took everything inside of her not to slap away that hand, a kernel of the seed returning to fuel the raging storm. 

"You are so beautiful." He breathed out as that finger turned to a hand that guided down to her arm, falling even more South, further and further down to her small hip...

Persephone shyed away, eyes burning and turning her face away from Apollo. The urge to crawl into a hole and hide away was strong. She yanked up the strap of her dress, the scraping of his fingernail leaving burning trails upon her skin. Was this what a touch from a male was supposed to feel like? Icky and so, so unwanted? Her heart ached, stomach uneasy. It all felt so wrong, and just in minutes Apollo had done something wrong. It brought only more melancholy at the realization of how she had finally found peace in her boiling problems, the growing pain colliding with her calm once again. 

"I want to go back." She shuffled away from him, voice quiet with the pressure of the pipes in her throat. Her heart accelerated, stomach churning as her body screamed for her to run. Right as she was about to arise from her seat, Apollo's hand flew to her cheek, turning her face to stare into those stern eyes. 

The land was no longer colorful. It was grey and scornful, disgusting and murky. In his eyes were demons she knew she would never be able to outrun. 

"I'm so sorry, my lovely flower. It's just that I can not contain myself when I am around you." Her mind screamed out, reaching for something to clutch onto as she fell internally. 

Apollo's eyes searched her face as they went down, down, down to meet the fabric of the dress holding her breasts, tears springing from Persephone's eyes. _Please stop,_ she begged by thought, _please, please, please._

And then his pink lips were on her neck, pressing harsh kisses that burned her throat, his teeth biting at the delicate skin making her yelp. Red exploded in her vision, the world sluring by as the pressure on her chest made her begin to hyperventilate. Realization hit her as something inside her snapped open. Mother was right. Mother was so right. Gods took what they wished for despite your best wishes. All they did was take and take and _take._

And right now, Persephone was going to lose herself. The thought horrified her enough to grip her hands into Apollo's large chest, pushing him forcefully back from her. She stood up quickly, the mud coating her toes from the wet water making every thing so much more uncomforting. She put on the bravest face she could despite the quick rise and fall of her chest, face blooming red at the lack of oxygen. All she could feel was him. She was enveloped in him and she loathed every last piece of it. 

"I said," The tone that took her voice sounded foreign, emotional and full of force. "I said I want to go back. _Now_." 

But the light in Apollo's eyes were gone, now ignited with such darkness that Persephone took a shaky step back, the power inside of her hindered by the force of his gaze. When Apollo stood up, he trudged over to her so fast that Persephone was backing up step after step, backwards to his forward. His face was emotionless, claiming as if her answer wasn't in his vocabulary. Pain exploded in her vision as her back collided with a tree, _hard._ Her eyes frantically searched the wood for another way out, breath now impossible to claim as Apollo's hands clutched her shoulders with such tightness that tears instantly sprung to her eyes. 

"We will leave after," He growled out the words, one hand shooting up to her high-rising ponytail to grip the hair there, yanking. Persephone cried out, snot shooting down her face as her panic attack dug an even deeper whole. "I give you what every woman in this world wants." And then his teeth were biting the shell of her ear, so hard she could feel trickles of warm golden ichor slithering down her ear. 

The pressure on her head was starting to grow, harder and harder until she felt her vision coming in and out in flashes of scarlet, everything booming as she felt his hands colliding with the end of the dress. No. No. No. _No._

"No!" She screamed in desperate fury, fighting against him as she yanked her ponytail further, the Flower Princess screaming out as she brought her leg up with all of her considerable, immortal strength and busted Apollo in the lower abdomen. She knew that it hurt him from the way that it hurt _her,_ her knee busting out in fresh ichor as Apollo finally released her from his angry grip. The cry that followed was full of hot, seething anger.

Persephone went running forward, the exit from the woods so far away but so close, multiple parts of her body bloody with ichor, mixing with the sweat of the hot sun above as she gritted her teeth. Apollo screamed out from behind her, the sound bringing such hurt to Persephone that she felt like her heart was bleeding. _Somebody help. Please. Please._ The tug in her soul was taunt, heavy in her heart. 

She was getting closer, the loud rustling of leaves behind her a trigger of just how close Apollo was coming. Her legs were long, but his were stronger, faster, trained in wars and raged from battle. Persephone was looking so far ahead that she forgot to focus on the ground in front of her, the sharp rock that penetrated through her delicate skin making the entirety of her leg explode in pain. Persephone yelled out of pure heartbreak as her body harshly collided with the hard ground then, the ringing in her ears as her head slammed to the grounds of the forest echoing. Something twisted in her leg, the bone within it cracking. Although immortal, it didn't shield her away from the pains of mortality, the healing process wouldn't begin for minutes. 

Darkness settled beyond her eyelids, thoughts running rampid. She had to get up. She had to _survive_. But her whole body was so, so fatigued, hating the difference of the mind and the body. Never in her wildest dreams - not even in the nightmares that possessed her in terror - did she imagine herself in this scenario. Clawing out for dear life against the god that she wrongfully trusted. If she lived to get out, at least with the remaining dignity that sat amongst her broken heart, she would never trust another person out of stupidity again. 

"There you are." A voice that was comparable to a predator stalking up to it's prey sounded, Apollo's tone full of victory. "I'm going to destroy your light you stupid bitch, and you will _enjoy it._ " 

Her eyes crackled open, the effort nearly knocking her out. "No," she cried out, tears flying down her cheeks. "Apollo, please I'm so sorry, please!" 

_MOTHER._ Her thoughts screamed, trying to kick her legs but the newfound pain still overtook her bones. The shadows inside of her were spreading, more and more and more forming from the heart of that string. _SOMEBODY. PLEASE._

But to her utmost terror, she felt her dress ripping, a new breeze warming her upper thighs. The demon was so close to her, over her as the power in his eyes was dripping with dark- hunger. That gold hair was blinding her, the power in her veins growing as it thrummed. 

"Give it up already!" Apollo gritted through his teeth, ignoring Persephone's whimpers.

And when his hand found the cloth of her underwear, the only barrier between him and everything she had left, something inside of her snapped. 

Persephone's body and mind exploded in a collision of ancient buildup, her hand shooting up to meet his muscled chest in a seamless flow of electrifying, dark purple. Relentless, raw power. And the power was branding his chest, Apollo screaming as the fire seered through his clothes, blackness forming over his skin. That blackness...resembled wilted flowers. Only whenever Persephone could not physically hold herself up was when her arm fell, a whimper breaking through her lips as she felt ichor trickling down her nose. She was exhausting her newfound gift. When her body hit the ground as she grunted, everything inside of her shook with surprise as the Sun God flew against another tree with a grunt of pain. 

This time, that wasn't from _her._ She had been so distracted that she didn't need to sit up to understand who the figure behind her was, the crackling shadows that ricocheted to meet Apollo's body full of fury. It was ancient. The magic in his power was angry, shaking the entirety of the universe. It was all for her. 

Feet away, standing to shield the sun with his body outlined by golden light, his eyes enveloped of swirling shadow so dark that even Tarturus _itself_ would quake in fear, stood the King of the Underworld. His muscled arms were shot up, pushing streams of shadow to hit the Sun God straight in the chest - over and over again as if fury itself was taking power over his body. Persephone could feel his answer, her heart _screaming_. 

"You will never," Hades's voice was so cold that Persephone flinched from the ground, watching as Death - beautiful, beautiful Death who was an angel encompassed in nightmares shot another surge of shadowed power to Apollo, golden ichor shooting from the corner of the god's mouth. 

"Ever," A punch straight to the skull, sounding a _crack_ that shuttered in the warm air. Apollo took the hit, eyes bruised to every end and hooded at his uncle's anger.

"Hurt her or touch her again. If you so much as _look_ at her I will have you rot in Tarturus." Hades's hand was wrapped around Apollo's throat, Persephone's sobs still ongoing into hiccups. Silence followed and Hades's grip fell even tighter. "Do you fucking understand me, you piece of shit?" 

She couldn't tear her eyes away from him. She wasn't afraid of him, wasn't horrified in any sense of the word. She was almost mesmerized the length that Hades went to for her protection. If she could feel anything other than burning, overpowering pain, she would fall to her knees and thank him.

Except the tethered ribbons of his soul, outshining every edge and glow of the flowers she once reveled in - was broken. 

"Yes, _your Majesty."_ Apollo spit iridescent blood to the boots of Hades's feet, the ferocity simmering in Hades's swirling black orbs fading back to their striking blue. The disrespect didn't go unnoticed, Hades's foot coming out to press on the leg of Apollo's body with smashable force. Apollo grunted, face contorted in endless hurt, mouth streaming ancient curses that branded Persephone's memory.

"Get the hell out of my sight." Hades said with such carelessness that even Persephone felt Apollo flench. Hades turned his back on the Sun God, an explosion of sunlight flickering from the snap of Apollo's fingers as he faded into the air. 

And that silence, that silence that followed was crushing. The weight of her tears rippling, the memory of _his_ face causing such intense anguish even seconds later that Persephone howled in pain - calling for the relief that wouldn't reach her. She didn't cry for her wounds, she didn't call for a victory of survival when clearly her mind hadn't survived - she cried because the rest of her immortal life would never be the same. Because he would haunt her every dream, transforming it into a pile of rot that would never be escapable. Persephone mourned and mourned and mourned in her tears, her cries the equivalent to a blade piercing through the heart of an innocent animal: undeserving, destructive and utterly heartbroken.

Then the God of the Underworld was running to her, her vision so blurred but only clear enough to see the expression of pain that enveloped his face, as if her agony tormented him to death. Hades ran to her, falling to his feet and sweeping her to his chest, arms gently rounding around her body as the blood of her wounds soaked into his elegant clothing. He didn't even look at her exposed abdomen, the underwear there tattered with dirt and ancient musk. It was only instinct that her face found his shoulder, fingernails biting into his strong shoulders as she screamed broken dreams. 

"He hurt me." It began as a whisper, so blatant and so obvious, that it carried to possess volumes like the crushing waves that drowned her. "He hurt me! He hurt me, oh my Gods he hurt me. I, I- I can't. I can't breathe, I can't breathe, _I can't breathe_."

She loathed it. The weight on her chest, every last drop of blood that he induced colliding with her senses of feeling. And the dress...tattered...she wanted to burn it. Burn it and watch the fire rage only to join the fabric. 

Persephone hadn't realized it, but Hades was rocking her in his lap, the action soothing. He held her so tightly that letting go was never an option to go to. His hands ran through her hair, his hardened face resting against her head. She felt the uplift of her ponytail crumble, the holder gone. 

"I'm so sorry." And the three words were drawn out, his tone genuine with every bit of hidden meaning...her heart breaking even further as she realized how deeply he blamed himself. " **Sweetheart,** look at me. Look. Breathe for me."

And his hands were moving to scramble her face away from his shoulder, mascara running to form black pitiful lines that streaked her face, the rise and fall of her chest rampid. His eyes roamed to her neck all the way up to her ear, where the wounds were already starting to close as skin reformed. Yet the anger...the undying anger...was impossible to miss. It depleted in seconds, his face written in pain. His hands rose to hold either sides of her face, wiping tears and looking so deeply into her eyes that she wondered if he could see her shattered soul. 

"He...he _broke_ me..." The whisper burned her tongue, coming out in harsh, painful sobs. "Take it away, make it stop." And when she begged to him, when she wished to feel nothing it all, to be numb to the pain...she meant every word. Hades shook his head, his eyes glassed over. " _Why_? What did I do to deserve _this_?" Her breaths were shudders that overtook her entire body, her hyperventilation causing buildup in her throat; choking.

"Persephone," He whispered against her hair, voice breaking. "Breathe _with_ me." And he held on to her, never letting go, training his breath. 

Inhale.

One inhale for the explosion. For the chest that she had branded in wilted black flesh.

Exhale. 

The first exhale for never being the same again. 

In. 

Another breath for the corruption that she now understood, every word her mother ever spoke running through her mind. 

Out. 

Her breath released for the words she spoke to _him..._ wishing with every fibre of her being to take it all back. 

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

When their breaths were in sync, and Helios's vision in the sky settled halfway on the horizon, Persephone was numbed, the tears depleted. Her energy was gone, face void of any emotion. Her head rested on Hades's shoulder helplessly, listening to the song that was his heart. It was the only thing - **the one thing** \- that could keep her awake. That could keep her from exploding again. And the only thoughts she had - the only thoughts that plagued her, were thoughts of golden hair and the bite of teeth that produced blood. A sensation of a finger reaching for her thigh...the skin there would never be the same again.

_Inhale._

_Exhale._

Two breaths for the death of Persephone's heart, the broken shatters living in shadow.

**~**

It was only after an hour had passed of constant fear of confrontation to her mother that Persephone had accepted the inevitable fate of going back to her mother's quarters, holding Hades's robes over her body with a grip that caused blood to rush to her fingers. She couldn't move, couldn't speak save for the times she begged Hades not to leave her (his response was always _I will never leave you)_ , and could _not_ stop reliving. Hades had transported them to the alabaster doorstep of the Goddess of Harvest's room, Persephone gripping onto a singular one of his fingers. Standing next to him...it was enough. She stared at the door, her gaze glued to it. Knocking on it felt like it would suck every ounce of remaining energy from her. 

In these inexcusable ten minutes she hadn't thought once of how she would break this to her. How she would even remotely explain such trauma...such tragedy. Because Persephone knew that if she opened her lips and brought the story to live in existence forever...she would be locked away again, forced to never move from her mother's sight. 

"You don't have to do this now." Hades breathed into her ear, his voice calming her nerves for seconds.

"If I don't," Persephone breathed, eyes never leaving the door, "then I will never forgive myself." 

Not that the scars of forgiveness were there whatsoever on her mind, but she believed her mother would listen.

Then why was she waiting? Why was she so terribly afraid? Why did she feel as if she was going to vomit her guts out at any pressing moment? She felt...she felt so powerless.

"Persephone." He addressed her, her eyes leaving the door to stare into his striking eyes. "It will never be your fault. Never." He gripped her hand, the action giving her a flicker of hope. "You aren't just some tiny Flower Goddess...you are a wolf. A survivor. A conqueror."

But she couldn't believe his words, no matter how much she loved hearing them, because her heart was bleeding out. The nod she offered was all she had left.

"You should go." She whispered, her eyes greeting his once. And in that gaze, in the gaze where she held the tears to realize that the God of the Underworld wasn't the man that the Olympians painted him to be, she wished so desperately he would never let go.

And when he nodded with every lick of understanding, when he let go of her hand to let the cold greet her empty palm - she felt the shadows tugging at her heart once again. It was only when she looked to the door as if it would dissappear and back to the spot he once stood where Persephone knew he had used his helmet, the ghost of his body still so near her. Invisible. Gone.

_Never go. I can't...I can't bare it._ The words were best left unspoken.

But reality snapped back as the door opened, revealing the blank stare of her mother. Persephone's mind quarrled, her mother's face inspecting the tattered red hair invaded by dirt on her head, the swollen chocolate eyes of her daughter causing Demeter's hands to fly to her mouth. Her mother's face crumbled - and that was enough to unleash the monster of emotion in Persephone's soul. 

"Mother..." She whispered, getting drawn in so quickly by her mother's hug that it was crushing...her breath slow. 

She hadn't even realized she was standing inside of the room before she heard the click of the door behind her, Demeter's hands holding her face as she looked to her daughter in utter hurt. She knew. She knew and she didn't even have to say anything. And the anguish that contorted her face...it was all so much that Persephone _had_ to look away, as if processing the possibilities was murdering her mother. 

"Kore..." Persephone hadn't realized just how much she loathed the name until her mother spoke it then. How could such a monster be called something so innocent?

"Oh my gods, oh my gods my daughter..." And her hug was enveloping her again, the world crumbling as tears silently cascaded down Persephone's face. There weren't words to speak in this moment, where the silence spoke volumes and reopened each wound. 

But when Demeter's hands reached the robe, the material velvety and smelling of her brother...her hand paused, face turning blank as she moved away from Persephone. Confusion possessed the Goddess of Spring at the level of hatred that became Demeter. 

"It was him," Demeter spat. "That bastard took you away to get back at me, he will pay." 

And when realization stuck her like a sword, Demeter marching towards the door as Persephone reached for her arm with the speed of light, gripping onto her mother's hand to stop the woman in her cold footsteps. 

"No it wasn't! Mother it wasn't my uncle I promise!" Demeter turned, that hot fury making Persephone's throat run dry. 

"Then _who?_ Who the hell has done such a thing?" Silence. Silence because speaking the name would kill her.

When Persephone stood with her arms enveloped around herself, Demeter shook her head, walking briskly to the other side of the room. She could feel the radiation of pure revenge, everything coming toppling down as Persephone struggled to even move a bone. 

"I told you." A drawer opened only to be slammed shut later. "I told you that the gods took whatever the hell they wanted. Now you won't even give me the name of the son of the bitch." Demeter passed her, moving to the bed to throw whatever piece of clothing she held tightly in a bag. 

"Mother, I can't-"

"Can't my ass!" Persephone concealed her whimper, the shock like a slap to the face. "We are going home. We are going home and you will never step a foot away from me again." 

It was like a chain reaction. The words, the intimidation, the _exhaustion_ hit her all at once. Persephone's face dropped, tears running hotly down her cheeks. She couldn't go back. She couldn't. Because as much as she dreamed of being in the darkness to sleep...she couldn't do it in the meadows. Not where contact was already so restricted...not when translating her emotions was already so impossible. 

"No." And the word - out in the open and hitting Demeter like a bullet, caused the Goddess of Harvest to be striken with emotions that came and went too fast for Persephone to read. 

"No?" Anger. Pain. Confusion. "You do not tell me no! I am your mother. I am your mother and we are going back to the cottage." 

The shadows were gathering. The external ghosts begging to be unleashed, her power building again. And Persephone feared it, wanting to scream. She wasn't listening to her. For once in her damn eighteen years she couldn't even take a word from her. Especially now...especially when this was tossing her in such pain that life no longer mattered.

"No, Mother! No because I can't mentally take any of this anymore!" Her hands were trembling, Persephone speaking through her chattering teeth. "I can't take seeing one person every five months. I can't take the disappointment I get whenever I speak to you. I am eighteen years old and I can not recall a memory where you really considered what _I_ wanted!" The shock and the outright hurt that crossed her mother's face...it crushed her. Crushed her so much that it only contributed to the growing hurricane. She felt like an untamable beast, about to strike. "I am so sick of holding everything I have inside of me in until I can't take the pressure anymore! Mother I am eighteen years old and I am withering away!" 

Persephone sunk to her feet, the sobs that shook her body catastrophic. She gripped her head, the migraine blocking her vision in a flash of light and dark. She couldn't look at Demeter...she couldn't...

"How can you say this to me? How can you be so _selfish?_ I have given every single thing I've ever had up to provide for you. To love you. And you can't be grateful just because you are _emotional?"_

"Mother!" Persephone screamed, face shooting up to see the anger on her mother's face. "I am not emotional! I am hurt. I am unhappy! I am hurting and you can't even listen to me!" She couldn't breathe. Gods her eyes ached. Her body was trembling...she wanted to die. 

"You are _lying._ " 

Demeter's words were stabbing her, rifting her. She was drowning, the sounds becoming louder, the visions more prominent. His hands, his hands reaching for her thigh...

"I am not! Mother please listen to me, I _need_ you to listen! I am so in pain. I am..." A shuddering sob. "I am broken. I can't I am so _**exhausted**_."

"No. Get the hell up, Persephone. We are going home." And when Demeter moved close to her, Persephone rose, backing up steps. She needed to get away. She had to before she hurt anybody else.

He was closing in on her. The tree...it was so close -

"Mother, please! I don't want to hurt you! I CAN'T!" 

"Stop! Mother I-" 

And when Demeter's hand landed on her arm, her body shook, her throat screaming pure torment as dark purple light flew from Persephone's body in a blinding sensation that overtook every last surge of energy - depleting her and wrecking it's ruin. The room shook in eruption, her hurricane an earthquake of destruction.

Demeter flew back, the world turning into darkness as Persephone crumbled to her feet in agony, golden blood surging down her nose as the combustion settled. She heard her mother falling to the ground with a powerless thud, her entire body colliding with the floor. 

Her thoughts were swirling helplessly, her guilt hitting her tenfold. _Mother, Mother, Mother._ Gods what had she done? Why did she hurt? The aftershocks still fought to bring dominance over her character, the tiny tremble of her bones causing her to fall face-first to the ground, the small amount of pain indescribable coupled with the piling torture of her explosion.

The fall brought feeling of every last sensation to the tee. Her mouth was dry and full of ichor, the taste nauseating yet not enough to make her rise. Tears still streamed down her cheeks as they played Persephone's tale of woe. And her mind...her mind had battled so much today that it was burning. The ache of her bones had returned, the taunt limbs screaming out of sheer agony. She had crossed the line of tiredness to exhaustion, the depletion too much.

"Mother?" The whisper was jagged amoung her cracked lips, her eyes shooting to the goddess that laid unconscious across the room. Her fingers shook as she reached for her, the image enough to crave the fires of Tarturus.

_Monster_.

Persephone succumbed to sleep when she felt a final tear fall down the length of her cheek, the darkness claiming her in a rippling sea of black. 


	8. six : the descent to the underworld

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my sunshines! I hope everybody is enjoying the story, and I truly wish this year is going well for each and everyone of you. I just wanted to say that this chapter will be a bit shorter simply because this is such a pivotal moment in the original myth that I didn't want to stray the plot with unnecessary content.
> 
> I love you all and thus far I have loved each word that makes this story magical. Move onward and enjoy!
> 
> ~ A

**HADES FEARED.**

It was - in every single context - a word that was entirely foreign to him. Six letters had never felt so correct as he wore the ancient Hymn upon his mind, thoughts worn down by the weight of the fear that echoed through him as the Goddess of Spring was pulled into the Goddess of Harvest's quarters. Despite the look of harrowing despair that appeared in Demeter's eyes, seeing Persephone walk through that door beside her twisted his gut to the point of his breath being withdrawn.

When the door clicked close, he entrusted time. The clock ticked by so slowly that he wondered how it induced his quick heartbeat. He was beginning to wonder if Demeter actually reacted wonderfully until he heard shouting, and everything seemed to go downhill from there. One moment there was terrifying quiet, then the next there was a roaring rage concealed inside of the room, the scream of an angered mother to her distraught daughter drawing his silent footsteps to the doorway, cold fury mystifying his shadows. Blood boiled while he heard the feedback of Demeter, her outright denial to hear Persephone bringing him to nearly busting open the door.

But then he heard her...heard her and her sorrows... it completely broke him. She wanted so much more. _Deserved_ so much more in ways that were justifiable to the ends of the world. The tremble of her voice confirmed the dejection of Demeter's neglect, causing the red that painted his vision to spread. Spread to his knuckles as they trembled at his sides, his heart burning.

But the commotion was getting louder, the argument longer. More flustered and intensified in all of it's emotion. Something was so wrong and he could feel it. There was something tugging inside of his chest, building to tug even harder on his heart. He had felt it before Persephone's abuse, the world pulling him to move forward as if his life was dependable upon it. Dependable upon her wellbeing. What was this ancient magic?

And then he heard a cry of outrage, such power and passion strung into the feminine scream inside of the room that even the force from a room away screamed to him - raw in it's fury as something in his stomach collapsed. Hades grunted, clutching his chest and nearly falling to the floor if it weren't for the cream-colored wall behind him, the world crashing to full force as he heard something heavy collapse in the other room.

The darkness was unleashed as soon as the cluster of his fears were. His furies and his thoughts roared. At that very moment there was a mystical rip in the earth, Hades's beating heart disrupted as his eyes shot to the source, golden dust embodying the Titaness of Magic. Her dark eyes were frantic, more frantic than he ever imagined that he's seen them, the turn of her head to the exact room he plummeted over confirming that the gears in Hecate's mind were mid-turn.

Ripping off the Hymn of Invisibility, he ran towards her, nodding out of context he didn't seem capable of voicing. Worry drummed in his stomach to create a roaring song that filled his ears. Everything was so wrong and the feeling was unbearable.

"I heard it." Hades said, not understanding what the _it_ was yet but knowing it had everything to do with Demeter and Persephone. And the tug...the tug that had been accompanying his heart for two and a half days...it collapsed.

"And I... _felt_ it." He knew of Hecate's ability to detect magic more than the next god. Being the Goddess of Witchcraft enabled her to analyze power as soon as she so much picked up a speck of it. And for her to look so stricken by whatever outburst had taken place...was catastrophic.

"It was her. I remember feeling the weight of her capabilities last night, but I didn't expect for it to be so overwhelming. I was _outside,_ Hades."

His mind blanked. Like paper in need of writing - his thoughts wilted. He was right. She wasn't simply a flower goddess...she was withholding her own demons. Demons that were eating away at every source of emotion that they could reach.

The ancient entities raced towards Demeter's door, Hades's stomach so unbearably tight that he felt as if he was going to vomit. He bit down on the inside of his cheek until he felt silvering ichor slide along his tongue, the shadowy whip of his power flinging the door open with a blast. Hecate gasped at the chaos concealed within, Hades's whole being dropping from heights he never knew could be so high.

The room was in shambles. Paintings, tapestries and anything occupying the walls were either in shards or broken to the floor, even walls suffering at the impact of Persephone. Tiny ripples painted along the detailed mint color were scattered with the occasional holes, the ground overran with wilted vines. The bed, which looked as if it was previously elegant, was now in pieces in the very middle-point of the room. She had wrecked every piece of her into the outburst...all because of the neglect. The neglect of her mother to listen. Anger arose in Hades, scorching like the fires of Tarturus.

"Hades!" Hecate yelled, running in the direction towards an unconscious Demeter, her long red hair unfurled and body powerless. She looked entirely stressed in her sleep, as if even the energy couldn't be replenished. Persephone...had done that. Had been able to take down an Olympian in her power.

Gods.

But his heart tightened at the sight laying at his feet, the woman that he watched crumple against him only an hour ago laying face-first against the ground, her body unconscious with sleep. She looked so at war...eyes flickering against closed lids rapidly like the dream she was having wrecked absolute trauma.

He knew that he missed bits of the conversation. He knew that perspectives were a movable thing that were meant to be skewed. But he also knew desperately that Persephone was in the wrong place. She would never thrive with her mother. Eighteen years and being raised in the seclusion of only Demeter's hindsight brought her to the ground. And with such raw, uncontainable power in the mixture...the world would certainly be doomed if emotion interfered with her control. Her eyes even screamed for help. Hades didn't have hours, or months or even years to glide upon a decision, he just _knew._ He knew what he was about to do was wrong, wrong and selfish in all of his lifetime, but he wanted everything for this girl and it had only been fourty-eight hours. The sands of time didn't wear him down, but looking at Persephone...he knew when a person was in battle. And this battle was harsh and something that has been raging for _years._

Crouching down to her level, a finger stroked the length of her delicate cheek, the old and fresh tear stains there revealing all that he needed to know. This was evident. And the solution was floating around like a pestering fly.

"Zeus will be here any second. This wasn't just any temper-tantrum." Hecate said calmly, eyes softening when they landed on the sleeping Persephone.

"Exactly. Which is why...I need your help." It was too late to take it all back. The words had been brought into existence.

"What are you planning?" Hecate's brow rose, eyes confused as Hades picked Persephone up in his arms, her head resting against his broad shoulder for leverage. She felt so cold despite the warm temperature that hugged the room. He wanted to uplift her, to make it all okay.

"There is no way in hell I am leaving her with that woman." His tone was venomous; disgusted. Directed in the direction of his sister, he didn't feel any worry for her unconscious body. In fact as awful as it sounded he found that the cry was deserved.

"Are you fucking _crazy?"_ Hecate exclaimed, eyes searching his face and the young woman in his arms.

"Yes." He answered simply, tone looking for nothing but clarity.

Hades looked to the shattered window that revealed miles of land outside, his brain colliding with worlds of possibility. He had already assembled a plan, but getting Hecate on board would surely take some convincing.

"Hades I completely disagree with Demeter's parenting techniques, in fact I loathe them. This outcome could of been seen by anybody. But what I don't understand is the oblivion beyond us. You get that if we take this woman away from her mother the consequences are more than likely to be dire? We could be exiled from Olympus, exiled from mortal lands or even-"

"And how does that pertain to our happiness?" His words were rushed, the pressure of time so painful and so terrifying. They needed to do this fast. "Do you seriously enjoy all the extravagant parties and the fucking monsters rotting this place?" Emotion exploded in her eyes. The question was rhetorical. "The monster that birthed her will be her downfall. Demeter will force her into decisions that will bring her to rot. I know how this goes. I've seen it. I do not want that for her. And you can not tell me you want that, Hecate. I know you."

He could see the war inside of his friend's eyes. Could sense the weight of how his words impacted her. There was pure intensity as they stared at each other, Hecate's tearful eyes falling to Persephone. She knew of the neglect. Had felt it firsthand through her disgusting father.

Still Hecate bloomed into one of the most inspirational goddesses that Hades had ever met in his eons.

"Okay, fine. But we need to make this quick." She walked towards him, eyes climbing the place in analytical context.

"I need to go find my chariot. You already know of the wards on the Underworld. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way." He needed to remain calm and maintain his power. The only way he'd get out of this was by being discrete.

"But first I need you to get the hell out of here and find a way to keep Persephone hidden. Don't be conspicuous. Don't be loud. I trust you." And he did. With everything he had.

Hecate nodded, looking to the young woman. With a snap of her fingers, Persephone had faded into Hades's arms, invisible with an illusion. He could still feel the warm weight of her body in his arms, but he couldn't see a speck of the Spring Goddess. Hecate had always been quick witted.

"Nobody will be able to see her, but I can't change her simple existence. I will have to carry her weight with my mind to get her outside."

And at that, the weight of Persephone was being dragged from his arms without a blink from Hecate. He felt so much more vexed about the situation with the illusionary.

"Perfect. Meet me outside near the woods South. Prepare for the descent. Make it fast. Don't get caught." Those directions were crystal clear, but Hades felt a flash of their old times together whenever Hecate bore her teeth in a smile.

"And when have you ever known me to get caught?" The God of the Underworld couldn't contain smiling back.

**~**

Everything was going according to plan. Hecate had mastered the arts effortlessly in the Age of the Titans, so the trust in her magic wasn't the thing that was causing the anxiety to bubble in the pits of her stomach. It was instead the sudden footsteps that signaled another body every few minutes as she walked the palace, a fifth of her mind occupied on keeping Persephone intact but also hidden. Magic was simple but also conniving in a way that it was complex. 

The complexity was born from a person's thoughts and the amount of control they possessed. When the control was disrupted, that is when magic would tip the scale and become harder. And for Hecate, even the Goddess of Witchcraft struggled in her teenage years. The war of emotions drew her down, and the magic would only become a contributing factor to the roaring responses that were begging to be unleashed. She had unleashed tsunamis on oceans in her day. On the days where all didn't make sense and her father would beat her until she was black and blue. Only when she awoke from the invasion would the bruises be gone, but only from sight.

Hecate believed that Demeter's bruises on Persephone were mentally-driven, which although equally severe to her own trauma - still made the process of letting her body break down that power even harsher. Something broke for the woman in Hecate. She hoped, for in every possible scenario, that the girl would be accepting of this decision. That she would learn to thrive and heal in peace in the Underworld. 

Hecate was getting even closer to an exit, eyes deadpanning on the guarded castle door feet away. She was so close. So close to the Flower Goddess's freedom, so close that her vision of the Underworld was being painted in the swirling interior of her mind.

One footstep. Two. Another. She was reaching the exit without so much as a nod from the twinned guards, her strain on keeping Persephone off the ground increasing her ever-growing adrenaline and anxiety. 

"Hecate." 

Everything froze as her name was called, a strong voice full of rippling power accompanied by the command. They both knew exactly who each other was, and Hecate's mind boggled at how many decades it's been. So many decades and yet she could feel the growing power inside of the Queen of Olympus's stomach, the buzz of that pure godly power calling to her own magic. Intriguing. Maybe the gossip and the rumors had taken a turn?

Hecate's turn was swift yet perfectly contained, face inevitably praying to the Fates above that the invisible goddess stayed unconscious at her side. Her sharp features were alit with a warm smile. It was convincing enough, Hecate had absolutely no doubt, but even Hera was sharp enough to detect something wrong in her own home. 

"Hera. A little occupied, I see?" Hecate's eyes cleverly fell swiftly to the stomach of the Goddess of Marriage, her response causing Hera's cheeks to blush a furious red. Hecate knew how much Hera loathed invasion, but stirring the pot surely wouldn't hurt in this situation would it?

"I always did hate that gift of yours." Hera responded with perfect recollection. You'd never be able to detect the loss from how fast she trained her features. 

Hera was coming even closer to her, the _click-clack_ of her heels setting off bombs in Hecate's mind. One shot. She only had one shot and if it was ruined moments before she was about to pull it all off...then the loss would be painful. 

"Everyone does." But that charismatic exterior remained. It never left. "I assume you wish to..." Hecate glanced at the curious guards behind her, knowing of Hera's secrecy. Hecate leaned closer to the brunette, until her ear was close enough to the goddess's ear. "keep the gender a surprise?" 

Hera's breath was cool, and although Hecate's heart was racing with her own secret, she couldn't detect Hera's being anything besides calm. Calculated. She always had a front, that cold face she wished everybody to leave uncracked - which in Hecate's mind, webbed them together more than she knew.

"I suppose that would be best." Her tone was as smooth as silk. But as Hecate moved away, as her head began to draw from Hecate's, she was wickedly snapped back into place. Hera's powerful hand grasped Hecate's petite shoulder and the whisper that followed slithered the cold chill against her bones. 

"Don't believe that making small talk with me will keep you out of the clear in my home. I know everything that happens here. Get the girl out. Take her away and save her from that snake." Every fibre that was Hecate froze. A puzzle of questions unanswered remained unfinished. Sweat rolled down her brow, heartbeat galloping. 

"No one is to know." It wasn't a request, it was a command. A command from one of the goddesses that was eldest of her, a command from one of the only women who has never done wrong by her. 

"No one is to know." Hera agreed after a long pause, the words swift. " _Go._ "

Hera let go of Hecate, both goddesses turning to the guards in a symphony of full sync. Two pairs of eyes turned to the women; dutiful. 

"Guards, open the doors. I bid you farewell on the crossroads, Goddess Hecate." 

When the large doors opened to reveal a world of glimmering sunlight, the triumph that spread through Hecate remained unseen, Persephone's invisible body traveling skillfully out those doors before her own. She felt eyes burning on her back all the way until the doors closed once again, locking the last two days in history. 

Outside the wispy clouds were gliding from a sky of the most beautiful baby blue, and the great sun of Helios shone bright. Blazing with a fury that could not be ignored. The picture of clarity in a time of such rippling pain for the goddess she was hiding. 

Hecate's deep brown eyes looked to the towering trees that was yards South. In her immortal vision she could see the ant of Hades and his great chariot waiting for her speeding feet. She walked ever-faster, traveling the entire path for the sight to be avoided. The consequences that would ruin her life if this entire ordeal was discovered would be gut-wrenching. Even beyond all those consequences she refused to let Persephone back in the arms of her insane mother. When there is a will there is a way, and this is the only way that made sense.

The chariot was still the same by her memory centuries ago. Crafted with intricate indents that told a story, the onyx metal was ridden of any blemish in sight, the booming power of the unpatient black pegasus' hooked to the front of the chariot large enough to be intimidating but intelligent enough to map the route to the Underworld.

"I did everything correctly, Hades. She remained hidden, I remained indifferent. Now it is up to you." Up to him to make their descent. 

As she approached Hades and his piercing gaze, she nodded to him, confirming that the task was done. Although there was enough confirmation in the stare, his eyes traveled the space around them wildly, as if only sensing her wasn't enough. Hecate effortlessly guided Persephone to the opposite seat of one of the chariots cushions, bringing her back to visibility that resulted in Hades's relief. His muscles fell, eyes turning to Hecate as she climbed into the chariot. Deja vu enticed the Titaness down memory lane. There was a time when two friends traveled together, and though she thought those times were so over, now was the time to take back a position that now may be impossible to ignore. Her choices today - which although ethical - needed to be done artfully in this soon to be blow of events. Demeter would rage, and she would have to become another barrier.

"Coming back after all?" The spark of surprise in Hades's tone was rushed, but still there nonetheless. Even he didn't expect this outcome. 

"I have to." They both knew she didn't. Nobody was asking her to. "It is the right thing to do." 

Hades's eyes were grave, as if his actions seemed still heavily undesolved. Hecate knew that the blame that he would place on himself after this day would last for the longest measure of time, and no words she would soon attempt to speak would alter his guilt. But she was right. It wasn't biased, it was truth. This. This was saving somebody who was screaming for help. 

Words were then concluded as Hades turned to face the vast world, one large hand gripping the reins while another rose to twist into a tight fist, an entire crack of the earth rumbling the ground beyond the chariot. The dark outline of the underground brought crashing memory, the underground calling to the pegasus's stomping hooves. 

"Prepare for descent. It's going to be a bumpy ride." Excitement coursed through Hecate's stomach.

And when Hades cracked the reins, Hecate held tightly to Persephone's sleeping body, the chariot gliding down the hole of the underground. It was a speed that was desperate, seeking the best possible pace for their home. Hades's power pieced together the foundation of the ground again, letting the trio be engulfed in darkness. Only the heavy wings flapping in front of them coupled with the noises of the underground were the sounds that accompanied the chase. 

Nothing would ever be the same again.


	9. seven : all the dead lights

**DEAD LIGHTS. THAT IS WHAT** Hades would describe as the illumination of the Underworld. Where stars were hidden and the sun would never rise, his land of the ruly underground stretched with historical value. He knew the map by mind, knew the ever-glowering Elysium fields and the deathly depths of Tartarus. But as impossible as it was to believe, in eons of residing in the palace he built from stone and vision, there were places in the House of Hades that were yet to be discovered by its rightful ruler.

Passing his mighty Cerburus had been effortless for obvious existing reason, but when the three-headed creature had spotted Hecate at his side he could already see three pairs of eyes alight with happiness. There was always such a special sense of connection between the two figures. It brought him meaning knowing that Cerberus was so excited by Hecate's returnal. But the happiness was faltered when the dog spotted the sun-kissed Flower Goddess in his arms. Cerburus had been reluctant to move towards the poor girl, only for Hades to back up his loving creature in fear that Persephone would wake up. He needed to get her to his home, where she would awake in peace. This entire process was already sensitive enough. One wrong move and he feared that he would mess this up even further than he already had.

Greeting the hunched-back Charon was grey in emotion, even with Hecate to his side. Compared to his younger brother Thanatos, Hades always found their significant difference in behavior almost refreshing. Charon fulfilled his king's request of keeping Persephone's visit quiet - after all, it was Charon's job to remain silent. Hades even believed he basked in it. Therefore the boat ride over the River Styx was silent between all occupants involved. It gave Hades time to study the roaming souls of the Styx, some full of emotion in distraught confusion while others were evil, in need to be sorted. It nearly made the God of the Underworld huff at the work that was calling for him. Maybe assigning Thanatos temporary Judgement should not have been ignored.

Thus, they were directed straight to Hades's secluded lands, the deepening darkness exiled as illumination from the House of Hades seared his vision. As he clambered out of the boat with Persephone in his arms, he noticed how Hecate stopped amid the moment on the wilted grounds. Turning to analyze her features, Hades could read her like a book. Maybe it was the darkness in all of it's trickery, or maybe he was just imagining things...but he could of sworn that her eyes were glassy. Her caramel skin thrived under the dead lights, reminder of his original right-hand. Emotion bloomed in his chest.

He never stopped to consider it as closely as he should of, but a part of him knew that Hecate roaming the crossroads in seclusion for the last few hundred years gave her enough time to consider the regeneration of this place. She was home. She was home and he would welcome her for as long as she needed.

His footsteps synced with the distant noises of the Underworld as he sauntered next to her, looking to his palace. Surely he hadn't innovated it too much?

"Are you okay?" His tone was calm.

"Yeah," Was the simple reply he recieved. Her face blossomed into a half-smile of nostalgia. "I'm just confused as to how it took me moving for you to finally fix that crooked ass window."

Hades automatically burst into laughter, the inside joke of a story playing in his mind. There would be plenty of time to explain, but now wasn't that time. They all had their history.

When they walked forward with feet in perfect sync, walking towards something that could only be entrusted now, his eyes dropped to Persephone's face. Still peaceful in gorgeous sleep, yet the previous rapid movement of eyes against the inside of her eyelids was gone. Rosy cheeks constructed into angular features that suited her sharp nose and wideset lips had become hallow with shadows. He monitored the rise and fall of her chest, his heart going blank. Sleeping beauty. Even in the darkness - where many would believe that she didn't belong - she glowed like the most stunning star.

Hades almost hated the tightening in his chest. Almost...but he couldn't. If he was this bewitched by simply staring at her, then these onplay of events would surely be devastating. He wanted to protect her. He wanted the days where he could induce her laughter with a ring of make-believe sunshine. It wasn't about her physical apperence or the allure of her body - that was all just a bonus that was meant to be earned. He loved her already for her laughter, and the kind smile, and the strong interior that demanded so much.

But she would hate him. Loathe him for taking her away from the light. He was bracing himself for the impact of the blow.

Approaching the flaming lime green flames that engulfed the outline of the towering twinned ebony doors of his home, Hades's pale hand rose in a mere flicker towards the doors, the keys to the House of Hades linked to his lifeline. Only few possessed physical keys to his home, such as Thanatos, a handful of trusted handmaidens, the Judges of the Dead and even Hecate. Hades was never concerned of intruders in his eons simply because even the utterly stupid knew better to attempt something that would send them straight to immortal suffering.

"I will warn you," Hades's head turned in Hecate's direction. "Thanatos is like a child in an immortal's body. If he ever annoys you, just threaten him with Cerberus."

Hecate's eyebrow rose in questioning, but Hades's thin lips cracked into a smirk as they descended into the entrance of his ancient palace. Their footsteps echoed against the polished midnight black tiles of the gigantic hallway, Hades absolutely grateful that he hadn't spotted any of his staff roaming the hallways. He had always been so private that he never required a multitude of them. In fact it felt so unnecessary combined with the way it reminded him of his father's demanding life-style back in his childhood. Even Zeus lived that lavishly now.

"Where do we go first?" Hecate asked, surprisingly walking with such confidence that he wondered if she could still recall the interior of the entire building.

"I need to find Thanatos. Request his help in alerting some of the maids of Persephone's presence. I am not going to scream of her existence here until she wakes up and feels comfortable."

"If I didn't know any better, Hades," Hecate's tone was playful enough that her statement contradicted her knowledge, "I would say you have a soft spot for the girl."

Her eyes even connected with the way his arms held her even tighter. Hecate knew. She knew damn well and she was having _such_ a fun time teasing him about it. Hades rolled his blue orbs, handsome features feigning light annoyance.

"Smartass." He muttered under his breath.

Hecate winked, catching his eyes as she resisted the urge to burst into hysterics with the tug of her lips.

Finally they made their rounds to the throne room, Hecate pushing the door open to reveal the towering room that sat with an atmosphere of silence. And to his delight, in the corner of the room with a feathered quill in one hand and parchment in another, stood Thanatos - clearly looking around another list of endless Shade names.

Thanatos's almond eyes rose to the source of the noise, face booming into an effortless smile as he took in the sight of the God of the Underworld's return. Yet as his eyes traveled to the Goddess of the Crossroads, they lingered. They _burned_. Those frozen dark eyes settled and took in all of the beauty that was Hecate, Hecate taking him in with an equal amount of curiosity and...something that Hades couldn't place. It was nearly intrusive of how he was standing here for this moment, but he quickly gathered his memory that this was _his_ throne room and he had important matters to tend to.

Evermore, the spell seemed to be broken on the god, Thanatos's eyes falling to the redheaded woman sleeping in his companion's arms. Thats where the reaction was evoked, the quill and piece of paper dropping to the floor along with his jaw. His eyes were the size of saucers, and Hades didn't even give him time to process.

"Beautiful way to welcome me home, Thanatos."

"What the hell do you mean-" Thanatos was tripping over his words, gathering the forgotten list on the ground as he slammed it into one of the crystallized tables in front of him, noticeably nearly shutting one of his _fingers_ inside the desk, still looking to the trio of entities with a jaw to the floor.

"You never told me that he's an idiot." Hecate whispered quietly enough in Hades's ear that it was obvious.

"Idiot I may be," Thanatos scowled as he walked to join them, "but why does this look like a cult? Did you _kill_ someone? Oh my gods you actually killed this poor innocent woman-"

"I can get the shovel if we need to shut him up." Hecate commented as she crossed her arms over her chest, the Goddess of Witchcraft staring intensely into the God of Death's eyes.

"I apologize but I don't get intimidated by people the size of my big toe."

Hades's eyes widened at the obvious height difference between the two gods, Thanatos's bulky build towering over Hecate by two heads - even with her gilded heels. The fires of fury in the woman's eyes were impossible to avoid, and he felt as if a war was about to unfurl if he let their tension rage on. They were practically tearing each other apart just by eye-contact.

"Thanatos. Hecate." Attention surged to the growing tone from Hades, the authority in his voice filling the throne room. Thanatos's eyes widened at the second name, realizing his mistake. "This is an important subject. One that is sensitive and I need complete control over. I also need your help."

The nod from Thanatos provided comforting relief to Hades - not that he suspected anything different from somebody he trusted so much. But the questions written across his forehead remained.

"I stand with you. Always. But I'm going to need some serious explanation as to who she is." A nod in Persephone's direction. "And why the Titaness Hecate is suddenly in the Underworld."

Fair enough. It was to be expected. And would be returned.

Hades looked to the sleeping goddess in his muscular arms, noticing how one of her hands stayed latched to the buttoned shirt of his tunic - clinging to him like a lifeline. Her red hair reflected the warm lights of the ceiling, tickling the bare skin of his forearm. He felt so unbearably awful. Awful and guilty and flooded with anger towards himself. Explaining it all would surely be time-consuming, and he needed to find a place for Persephone to lodge in peace. As she deserved.

"I will. With Hecate. But first I need to get Persephone to my room and in bed. Then and only then will everybody settle and we can conversate on the last two days." With another name revealed, Thanatos didn't even bother to mask the response to Hades's revelation.

Without a word, Hades turned, not even accepting another response. Their plans were discussed and he didn't even have the energy to argue in his exhaustion. Patience was the virtue. Footsteps echoed behind him as he began to exit the throne room, Hecate following closely behind with swift feet.

"When I told you to get a woman in your bed," Thanatos called from behind them, "I didn't mean like _this!"_

**~**

Three gods of the world sat surrounded by a fire, deep in conversation. Thanatos's room was dim and warm, chilled by the revelations that were released from their tongues. Together the God of the Underworld and the Goddess of Witchcraft told the God of Death a tale of flurried woe, filled with event after event in the setting of Olympus, raging from Hades's secret meeting with the Goddess of Spring to the explosion of a depressed daughter to a neglectful mother. Each detail was cramed to the brim, meant to be insightful in ways that were closely related to painting a picture and as truthful in all of their glorious integrity. Thanatos listened until their last words filled the air, ending the conversation. You could tell by his body language that he was entranced by the history of their visit, even more entranced with the history of Demeter and Persephone. By the end, the silence that filled the void of the hanging resolution of Persephone's fate was puzzling. 

"Wow." Thanatos uttered from the left of Hades, shaking his head in utter disbelief. "Nobody knows that you took her?"

"Only Hera. But she was insistent on Persephone leaving Demeter." Hecate answered, one hand picking the fingernails of her other hand, eyes distant on the crackling fire. "Everybody is." 

"Because she's mentally abusive. It's been hours and in her sleep she still looks as if she isn't recovering. Her power...her power is uncontrollable." 

Hades had intentionally left out a singular pivotal event in their recollection, which belonged purely to Persephone. Apollo's abuse would never be his story to tell. It was too private...too intense of a moment so close to Persephone's heart that ruining it by even informing the people he entrusted most with anything would destroy her. She would conquer those heights only if she made the jump. On her own. 

"Gods," Thanatos uttered underneath his breath. "What happens now then? Demeter will wake up. And when she does she is going to search the ends of the earth for her daughter. What happens then?" 

Even in the hour that it took for explanation, Hades and Hecate never provided their plan involving the _after_ _._ Because the after belonged to oblivion, and some aspects of oblivion were impossible to write yourself. Even when you were a god.

"We let Persephone decide." Hades said with absolute clarity, the words never sounding more right. "We won't decide for her. This isn't anybody else's choice. She has suffered enough."

"What if she stays?" Thanatos asked in quiet agreement, those eyes connecting with his closest friend's. 

"Then we'll accept her with open arms. We'll protect her either way. We'll let the Underworld become a safe place for her, and I'll help her master her gifts."

When he said the words aloud, when he brought them so easily into existence - it seemed so simple. But in this cold reality, he knew the mental scars she was facing would run so deep that control would take months, even years to acquire. But he must be patient. He must seek the answers she would question. Hades unlocked another fear at that moment. With scenarios that were yet to become even a possibility, Hades feared that the black hole of her heart would eat her away. That the darkness would prevail, and all the light he saw inside of her would shrivel into nothing. 

But that was over his dead body, regardless of immortality.

"And," Hecate voiced from the loveseat across from the pair, her eyes fearing the scenario. "if she leaves, Hades?" 

Another fear. More and more and more. There was a pile forming, all revolving around her. 

"Then I will find a way to move forward. If she wishes to leave, then I will live with her decision because she wants it." 

They didn't have to question his statement to know how badly Hades would break. But they also knew Hades enough to understand that his fairness - his goodness that so many pushed aside like the monsters they were - was too powerful for even himself to ignore. He would watch the flower princess descend back into the light only because he wished for her wellbeing. 

Even if he destroyed himself in the process, he would do it.

All for her. 

**~**

The Goddess of Harvest came back to reality with all of her immortal strength in hours. Her bones felt stuck to her skin, glued in their time of her unpleasant rest. The inside of her throat felt metallic; bone-dry. And her head...her head was hammering so badly that the ache was radiating to her sore neck. Opening her eyes was an effort that was pressing, the migraine blocking out all source of sound until a deep voice filled her head, grimacing as her ice blue eyes strayed the room in bouts of blurred lines. It wasn't until her eyes found the eyes of the man she hated so much where she finally snapped up to sit on the ground, confusion spreading through her. 

"Where is our daughter, Demeter?" Zeus's voice was booming, standing amongst the room of forgotten shambles. She loathed his tone of voice, the tone he used in times where he would claim dominance over anybody in his path. But even more than that loathing for his commanding authority, was the use of the word _our._ As if Kore was somebody they shared in perfect harmony, as if he has done anything for her daughter in her eighteen years of life. 

But then was when it hit her. Like a brick flying from the sky to hit her head, the realization behind her memory of Persephone left her wordless, sky-rocketing up to stand beside him and take in the ruined room with crazy eyes. Her heart began to accelerate at each sight she swallowed, a lump gathering in her throat at the ruin that her daughter had caused. Demeter remembered the desperation that filled her daughter, the tremble of her hands right before she...she exploded. Even thinking such things was foreign to her own mind. After watching Persephone transform into a different person, everything went black. Everything went black and now she was _here,_ standing in front of the father of her child. 

Asking where her daughter was. 

"What do you mean where is she? She was right _there!_ " Frantic arms flaired in the direction where she recalled Persephone last standing, the spot now blank. 

Blank of any life at all. As if Persephone was the ghost of a memory. Her breaths came quicker now, more slurred together and drawn out. Eyes flying to the window that was now destroyed in missing shatters of glass, the moon hanging outdoors had never been more terrifying. It was the afternoon when it had all ended. Now it was nightfall. 

Her chest painfully constricted, terror engulfing the mother as the possibility of her greatest nightmare being real settled. 

Zeus was unfazed, clearly unamused in all of his glory. Heartless. He had always been. Here they stood in a room that had been ruined, where her daughter had disappeared, and he stood there like the pig he was while she panicked. 

"Well what the hell are you staring at? Do you seriously believe I know where she is when you found me laying there for hours?" Zeus shook his head, face void of emotion. "Gods damn you, you heartless bastard. Say something!" 

And when her hysteria brought her powerful hands to push him back - only barely but the disrespect was still overpowering - he gasped under his breath, anger beholding his light blue eyes. Demeter didn't care, not when the panic spread. Not when everything was going to the hell. 

"Get ahold of yourself, woman! I am so sick of your bullshit." They were standing head-to-head, a forgotten flame of parents now staring at one another with burning mutual hatred. "You act as if you are the only one in distraught. While you slept I searched this damn palace far and wide to find her. Hephaestus even assisted in scouring the woods. The yards surrounding this place. And you stand in front me, your king, and claim me as heartless?" He spit out the last word, Demeter pushing the painful lump of her throat down even deeper. "You know more than anybody else what happened to this room. Where is she, Demeter?" He gripped her shoulders, screaming in her face as if everything had fallen to her failures. "Where did she go?"

She was spiraling in her seething anger, the anger crashing with the confusion as the confusion intermixed with her growing disdain. None of this would of happened if it weren't for him. None of these events would of unfurled if Zeus hadn't of invited for to this disgusting place full of vile and poison. The rage was growing, the coldness growing in waves begging to be unleashed. 

"I DON'T KNOW!" She gritted in anger through her teeth, pushing his strong hands off of her in utter disgust, backing up several steps. The short silence that followed her cry was one filled of his steel gaze, scarlet red painting her gaze as she stared back at him. She needed her daughter back. She needed her back _now._ Her heart was bleeding out. "I don't know and it is killing me."

Honesty. Pure, heartbroken honesty. The goddess's arms crossed over her chest, looking to the ruined grounds of the floor as she held every last thing in. There was a hollow ache in her chest, as if her body could detect the absence of her sunshine. Demeter could never voice Persephone's outburst to Zeus, it would be so harsh on her reputation as a mother that she wouldn't be able to handle it. Yet here she stood...admitting a simple wrong. One that wasn't her fault - at least in Demeter's head - but a wrong nonetheless. 

"Our daughter is missing. She is gone, Demeter." The last word sit off the ticking time bomb that was Demeter, her eyes engulfing him with blazing flames. Gone. 

"This is all your fault." The whisper was infused of poison. "You always wished such terrible things on me and you have recieved it!" She didn't even bother to mask the stream of teardrops falling uselessly down her heated cheeks. 

"You are insane! And ridiculously stupid if you think I would ever do this intentionally! She is _my_ daughter too, damn it!" Zeus was enraged, to the point where his fist collided with the wall closest to him, Demeter's flinch scarring the memory. She was almost confused to how the wall didn't crumble from the impact. "You act as if nothing in the world is your doing. Your selfishness is growing tiresome, Demeter. So tiring that Persephone was growing tired of it." 

The words stung. Stung her even harder than any blow she had ever recieved. Words were impossible to gather, Demeter tripping over possible sentences swirling to the brim in her head but not one being birthed to existence. She was so exhausted. So exhausted and so anguished. Her heart was screaming for her daughter to be back in her arms again...but she only embraced the freezing cold. She ached for that warmth that her little flower released. But now that energy was gone...and nothing would ever be the same again. She had lost. Lost and perished things in her lifetime thus far that would destroy a person, but this truly was where the world turned grey. Colorless. 

Beginning with the crystallized blue eyes she had once loved. The man in front of her the very personification of everything she hated on this earth. 

And this ice...this iciness that formed to cover her black heart...she wanted to wreck havoc upon the world so they knew her sorrows.

"I curse the mortal lands." The fright that arose to Zeus's eyes was unmistakable, the impact of her words impossible to take back. "Your little human slaves will perish. In the freezing cold they will face the unknown. Their breaths will turn frozen and their lands will be ridden of any feastable produce. They will _starve._ And I will not help them. They will only know frost." 

"You CAN NOT!" The King of the Gods roared, stepping forward as if he were an enraged beast. 

But all words were only adding to the calamity, setting fire to the fuel. Demeter's eyes were voided, lips forming into a straight line as memory of her daughter's beautiful smile flashed over and over through her head. The Goddess of Harvest had cracked long ago, but now she was broken. 

"I swear on the River Styx, until I get my daughter back, the cold will enrapture these lands like a filthy disease." 

Demeter snarled, her dying promise triggering the lightning to crackle across the midnight sky far away. Swearing by the Styx was law that was immediately written into fate, and now Demeter's tie to the Styx was irreversible. By the end of the spark of lightning, Demeter had become engulfed in light, transporting back to the home she built nearly two decades ago. 

The roar of Zeus could be heard for miles, the world suddenly anew with chilling frost. 

**~**

Days had passed in the Underworld. Hopeful minutes turned to even less hopeful hours and those hours turned to exactly two days. Hades tried to occupy himself with Judgement after Judgement, working both himself, the Judges and Thanatos to their limits. Hecate stood by Persephone as time fluttered by on slow wings, her blank eyes each afternoon bringing disappointment to Hades's demeanor. 

But still he moved onward, sleeping on the cushions of the loveseat in his room as he studied the rise and fall of her chest. She was still alive. Still alive and never to die obviously, but her wellbeing was still the most vast concern to him. Knowing now how slow time moved - like it was in slow motion - without her made him imagine a world where her returnal took decades. That was enough to bring the greatest dread to the God of the Underworld. 

Hecate had tried to reassure him the night previously that she had experienced slow recoveries in her route to mastery, the emotions that were brought to arise through magic very prevalent in the decision of healing. And because Persephone had worked herself to exhaustion...replenishment would be hard to achieve. 

Fourty-eight hours after his return to the Underworld had Hades studying the ticking clock that occupied one of the corners of his room, his Judgement attire forgotten while he opted for a simple tight-fitting shirt with comfortable pants. He never allowed himself such luxuries, only because the life of stress was all he had ever known, but now the stress from Persephone not waking up accompanied his usual daily life was bringing a rift in his schedule. Midnight. The clock stroke midnight and his eyes turned to the redhead on his bed. Bringing a hand to comb through his ebony curls, he sighed as he sat to the foot of the bed. Her plump lips were parted, red curls framing her face beautifully. 

He never wished for anything more than he did now. For her to at least open those eyes and for him to get lost in the melting color. He needed it with an ache. Just because knowing if she was okay was more important than all the diplomatic issues of this earth and his family drama. 

His bones moved against his own will, Hades scooting even closer to her on the four-poster bed while the clock moved further by an entire minute. There was words he wanted to say, words that were probably too close to his soul for him to ever voice in her consciousness. If that made him a coward...then so be it. 

"My father was the definition of evil." He began, striking eyes on his lap as he toyed with one of his fingers. "In a world where you can live forever, Kronos didn't think that was enough. When he obtained power over all the titans, he was hungry for more. That had always been his outlook on immortality: more was never enough. Less was for the foolish, simply. At only seventeen years of age, he had overthrown his own father for leadership. He was that wicked. When he married my mother - Rhea - you would believe that a person would be content living with somebody so amazing for the rest of their life, but that clearly wasn't the case."

He did believe, he did overhear from his mother at least, that there was a time where Kronos was so in love with Rhea that even his own devilish nature was put to rest. She had changed him in ways that even his children could not. 

Because that was where a loop of ruin had been rediscovered. Through his children. 

"Their marriage prospered for years before the birth of me and my sibilings. You see, my father was very misogynistic and believed that women were bred purely to be deprived of power from their husbands. So when Gaia told him his prophecy would be one that entailed him to lose his throne to his sons...he felt anger. In his fucked-up mind, he believed that there was nothing to worry about if Rhea gave him a daughter, because that way he'd keep his title as king. Therefore when Kronos discovered that Rhea was pregnant, he was furious. Furious at my mother as if it was her doing only that my being had been created. So he gave her an ultimatum. If his firstborn were a girl, then he would let all of his children thrive happily under my mother's eyes. If it were a boy, then he would eat all of his children to avoid his heirs from taking the throne." 

Hades's eyes found Persephone's closed lids, the peaceful daughter of spring snoring lightly. The smile that warmed his face in the midst of such a wicked tale only told him that she could do anything. 

"Unfortunately my birth was one that wasn't celebrated. Rhea wept, begging her husband for another fate. He never conceded. Years passed and the next generation was born. After my birth came Hestia, then Demeter, then Poseidon to my father's dismay, then Hera, until finally Zeus's birth brought my father to his insanity." 

Hades could still recall the roaring despair in Rhea's eyes on that day. Could still feel it in his bones. 

"My father swallowed his first five children. Each of us hadn't gone down without a fight, but even Kronos was stronger. Rhea had done everything to get us back, screaming and crying and even testing his leadership. She never could best him. Because her options were limited and she was left with only your father, a plan had formed in her mind. My mother was always too intelligent for him. Where my father thrived in power, he lacked a brain. When requesting his newborn son, Rhea handed him a rock dressed in baby's clothing. Stupidly, Kronos swallowed the rock, choking until eventually he threw us up." 

The hope of that day was uncontainable. At only fourteen Hades had been forced to undergo war with his father, watching as his mother crippled. She wanted what was best for them. Since day one. And sadly enough the best things for the world were sometimes worse for the best people. 

"Kronos had raged, and when we took Zeus, we hid. We hid until Zeus was of age. Eighteen years in the making and finally the battlefield between a father and his three sons brought the Olympians to their reign. We rebuilt the world, preparing it for the Olympian era. When I began my reign, I locked the most evil Titans away into the depths of Tartarus, digging an even deeper hole for my father. Tarturus, unfortunately, was the first place I built." 

Hades, to this day, still understood why he chose the most demanding job of any of his family. He chose ruling the Underworld because he wanted others to find peace in the afterlife he'd never reach. This darkness was his safe-place. Many chose to not believe such a thing, because although depressing, he felt that this was where he belonged. He belonged somewhere that didn't reflect his terrible childhood. He belonged somewhere that was rid of the extravagant parties and secretive marriages. This was the home he built.

"I know that you may believe that Demeter is nothing like me and my sister's father, but I believe that in your upbringing Demeter was so reminded of the demons she had faced that she wished to conceal you from the world. But little did she know locking you up and keeping you to herself would cause you more pain than happiness." The even breathing of the woman filled the silence that followed. 

"I'm so stupid for talking to somebody that isn't even awake." He sniggered towards himself. "Maybe I'm even a coward. But just know...I will never lock you up. You are safe. Safe." His eyes roamed her soft yet sharp features. "Just wake up. Please." 

The final words were a pathetic plea, a whisper that entailed more emotion than he would of liked, and Hades reminded himself that he had an exterior to withhold as soon as she arose again. Of course not as harsh, but he would still need to be concise with his actions. But not too concise. Gods why was this so hard? 

The clock ticked, his eyes never leaving her face. Each tick set off anticipation that sped his heartbeat, hope clinging to the atmosphere with all of it's cruel intention. A countdown. He would countdown in his head and if she still wasn't awake, he'd go to sleep. 

_Five..._

_Four..._

_Three_ _..._

This surely was useless. He was a man, a god! And yet he was relying on the precious sands of time like a child. 

_Two..._

_One..._

His face dropped into a frown as the disappointment settled. Again, what did he expect? For the world to go all to rainbows and sunshine because he could count down? 

Rising from the mattress, he soberly moved to the couch, matters of the next Judgement playing scenarios in his mind.

Until a noise behind him made him stop cold in his tracks. A gasp escaped into the chilling air, his muscles frozen and eyes glued to the now forgotten loveseat. Acceleration of his heartbeats made him spin around, meeting a pair of chocolate brown eyes, frantic and searching his face. 

Persephone had awoken.

**~**

_The world was_ _bright_ _. The diamonds that flooded_ _the_ _skies glittered like millions of colors,_ _reflecting_ _the_ _beauty that_ _was_ _the Goddess of Spring. Her_ _weight_ _was_ _supported_ _by the grounds of the_ _most_ _gorgeous_ _lillies_ _, vibrant in color and soft_ _against_ _her bare skin. In the skies of_ _diamond_ _, white doves flew together in formation of the largest circle._

_The_ _smile_ _that_ _warmed_ _her face was gone of all torture, as if reality had been knocked out of her. Persephone_ _closed_ _her_ _eyes_ _and embraced the warm breeze that ruffled her red curls, the dress she wore an innocent white that was light as air in it's material but fell to her upper-thigh. She giggled,_ _turning_ _in all_ _of_ _her perfect little world's light with_ _elegance_ _._

_But all went_ _offhill_ _when_ _something_ _pierced_ _her_ _foot_ _,_ _face_ _falling into a grimace as her arms fell to_ _her_ _sides_ _. E_ _verything_ _being ticked to the opposite_ _side_ _of the scale when she saw a magnificent black_ _viper_ _amongst_ _her white lillies, staining the_ _beautiful_ _scene with hate. Its cold dark eyes looked at_ _her_ _with marbled fury - as if she did_ _something_ _to_ _evoke such a_ _reaction_ _._

_Then the venom_ _spread_ _in waves, Persephone screaming with uncontainable pain, her entire foot going numb as_ _the_ _viper shot up to strike. It's hiss sounded while Persephone's immortal reflexes brought_ _her_ _arms up to shield herself,_ _eyes_ _closing_ _painfully with a scrunch of her features, allowing herself to drown out the world and it's infernal impact._

_Except the strike of the snake never came - the fire_ _igniting_ _her leg proceeding. Instead the lillies from under her feet had disappeared, Persephone's weight_ _falling_ _deeper and deeper into a rabbit-hole of darkness. Darkness. More and more darkness. Her panic was barely containable, the shock that was_ _registering_ _on her features_ _disappeared_ _when her_ _entire_ _entity was enveloped_ _in_ _the_ _largest_ _body_ _of water - the_ _impact_ _of_ _hitting_ _the_ _raging dark seas like concrete to bare skin._

_The scream that hung in her throat turned to a ghost as she_ _swallowed_ _water, falling deeper and_ _deeper_ _into the dark waves - her vision blacked. She_ _clawed_ _through the explosion of_ _waves_ _\- seeking air. She_ _couldn't_ _breathe! She was_ _going_ _to die! How?_ _How_ _could this be happening to a goddess?_

_Persephone kicked uselessly in the dark_ _waters_ _, the numbing pain_ _from_ _the bite_ _radiating_ _to her_ _burning_ _abdomen. Her lungs burned. Her eyes burned. Everything was hurting. She would die here._

_**"We are**_ _ **going**_ _ **home, Persephone!"**_ _Her_ _mother's_ _voice_ _filled her_ _eardrums_ _as her vision burned._

_No. No!_

_**"Get the hell up."**_ _Her. She_ _had_ _hurt her. She had_ _broke_ _her_ _mother into_ _shattering_ _pieces_ _like_ _the monster she was. Her heart bled from the ongoing trauma. Visions of golden ichored blood shooting down her_ _mother's_ _forehead_ _brought_ _tremors to rock her entire body._

_Please. Not like this. Not when she_ _conquered_ _so_ _much_ _,_ _not_ _when she suffered and endured and_ _suffered_ _over and over again!_

_The_ _roaring_ _in_ _her_ _mind was_ _becoming_ _louder, consciousness slipping from her clutches as she sunk down what_ _seemed_ _to be an endless fall of watery darkness._

_Right_ _when_ _giving_ _up felt like an option,_ _right_ _when her lids drooped to cover her molten eyeballs to seek the end, instant blinding light stole the oceans away. A touch akin to_ _human_ _contact pulled her entire body_ _from_ _the ocean, the contact burning everywhere it_ _touched_ _her body._

_She_ _screamed_ _in desperation - the scenery_ _changing_ _to_ _something_ _that would haunt her for years to come. Maybe_ _eternity_ _._

_Because_ _she was underneath a_ _strong_ _body,_ _with_ _eyes_ _that revealed colors of mossy brown and crystal blue. His hair was golden, and the_ _smile_ _on his face_ _skidded_ _across her bones with the most twisted, awful sensation. She was laying in the grass where she was almost taken, and somehow the sun was_ _shining_ _above them both - like that_ _day_ _was_ _something_ _celebratory_ _to be marked in history._

_Her eyes burned as his fingers fell to her face, sizzling every_ _place_ _they trailed - the burn horrible. No. Please, Gods no. Not this. Never this._

_"I_ _have_ _you_ _again_ _." His face came closer to her, the chill of his breath against her ear making her whimper. Her body trembled from beneath him. "Little Flower." But the tone that followed_ _wasn't_ _her_ _abuser's_ _, it_ _belonged_ _to her mother._

_Eyes turning_ _the_ _size_ _of_ _saucers, Persephone screamed when the weight_ _on_ _top_ _of_ _her began to shape. To transform_ _into_ _the darkest and_ _largest_ _of_ _vipers_ _,_ _crawling_ _spiders with fangs that_ _protruded_ _from extended jaws, to wilted flowers_ _that_ _crushed her essence. She was being_ _covered_ _and_ _bitten_ _,_ _screaming_ _as bugs_ _filled_ _her_ _throat_ _and bees_ _stung_ _her_ _precious_ _papered skin. She was_ _breaking_ _._ _Breaking_ _and_ _hurting_ _and_ _tortured_ _. The_ _sunlight_ _was covered from the creatures of her vision and all she could do was lay in_ _her_ _sorrows as_ _she_ _broke._

_The rise of power inside was hidden, only_ _graying_ _absence_ _leaving_ _the_ _most present heartbreak. When_ _you_ _spent_ _so_ _long_ _presenting_ _your happiness for others to revel_ _in_ _it, you got lost. And_ _now_ _,_ _underneath_ _all her_ _fury_ _and_ _her_ _failure where_ _she_ _was_ _wronged_ _\- Persephone was lost._

_Her eyes_ _were_ _fluttering_ _close_ _, realizing_ _that_ _the_ _darkness_ _that_ _filled her hollow_ _body_ _echoed_ _until_ _all the_ _creatures_ _were_ _gone - leaving_ _the_ _air to_ _cool_ _the new wounds. She_ _ignored_ _the burns, knowing_ _that_ _it was all_ _deserved_ _._

**"...I'm so stupid for** **talking** **to somebody who** **isn't** **even awake."** _The_ _voice_ _was deep,_ _playful_ _but_ _also indirectly cruel to the owner. Persephone's eyes shot open,_ _bones_ _regaining_ _strength_ _as his image filled_ _her_ _memory._

_Him._ _The_ _only_ _person she_ _trusted_ _. Him_ _with_ _his deeper than ocean blue_ _eyes_ _and_ _corded_ _muscular_ _arms_ _that_ _held her_ _through_ _her_ _weeps_ _. Her cracked heart called for_ _him_ _._

**"Maybe** **I'm** **even a coward."** _He_ _wasn't_ _. He was_ _everything_ but _that._ **"But just know that...I would** **never** **lock** **you** **up."** _The raw emotion made her_ _tug_ _for him with all_ _of_ _her emotion. She_ _just_ _couldn't_ _reach_ _him!_

**"You are safe."** _Gods her heart was_ _breaking_ _all over again. Why? Tears fell silently_ _down_ _her_ _cheeks. Even further and_ _deeper_ _she_ _reached_ _._ **"Safe."** _It echoed again. That word._

**"Just wake up."** _It hit her with the force of a million suns. This_ _wasn't_ _real. This was all a trick...an illusion. Mind games. She tried harder to break open_ _those_ _eyes_ _._ **"Please."**

_Wake up, Persephone! Wake up!_

**~**

Air filled her burning lungs, the migraine that settled behind her lids beholding her with full force. But she casted blissful ignorance to the side as an explosion of new colors took Persephone's sight, the ceiling high and alit with the dimest chandelier. A grimace held her face at the consciousness until she rocketed forward with a gasp, eyes meeting the build of a muscular back. 

She was awake. Persephone was awake and the last memory she could recall felt years behind her. And this newity...this uncertainty that filled her with her entirely new surroundings...was holding every bit of her senses. 

But all she could analyze was his back, the pant of her breath replenishing her lungs nothing compared to the roaring that filled her ears. He was there. He was there and she was here...where was _here_?

Then he turned, and his eyes were on her. They personified disbelief. Yet he looked so different from what she was accustomed to - bulked chest concealed by a tightly fit cotton shirt and pants that hung by his waistline. And the reminder of his presence...it took her back. 

Back to that room. The room where she had broke down, where she had been ignored by her own mother. There were flashes. Flashes of noise and crushing, crushing sorrow. The sorrow bad been restored. Eyes of brown drifted to the velvet covers over her body, now covered in a soft heavy sweater of the deepest black. Then the stream of tears began. 

"I hurt her." Three words whispered into the oblivion, thrown into nothing but contribution of her newly discovered depression. 

Glassed over eyes rose to meet striking blue, and Hades was moving to stand at her side. Shadows - comforting shadows - wisped in the air. Not like the ones that were furious when he found her with...she could not even _think_ the sentence without breaking more. 

"Oh my Gods she is going to hate me." Hands shot to cover her face, her sobs rocking through her body with tremors. All she could feel was the prickle. The prickly thorns of a rose now wilting to stab her. 

"No." His voice corrupted the silence, the shuffle of movement masked by Persephone's darkened vision. 

Then the texture of callused fingers touching her hands brought vision back, Hades crouching beside the bed to her level. Their eyes met, and Persephone swore she had never felt more vulnerable under his gaze. He didn't see what she did. He didn't see the monster that reveled inside. Yet he didn't look away. Didn't back down or release her from his eyes. They were so real - breaking down buildings and restoring the dreams she once dreamed. 

"You're wrong. She could never hate you, Persephone. What you did-" But she ignored it, the dark craving it's damage. 

"What I did was terrible. Destructive. Don't you understand that? I hurt her. I hurt my mother." She snatched her hands away from him, watching the flinch that striked his face. Pain stabbed her for that one.

She could see the patience waning in his face, yet it remained. He heard her with wide ears despite her cruelty. "And now I..." Persephone's eyes searched the alienated room. "Where am I?" 

Finally it hit her. To ask the questions that needed to be asked. To find information in the parts she didn't understand. 

Hades stiffened slightly, inhaling a breath before standing fully to sit on the bed beside her. A hand combed through his short locks with eyes glued to the wall opposite of them. He seemed to be collecting thoughts, as if the explanation would hurt her. 

"Firstly, you've been asleep for two days, Persephone." The surprise echoed through every piece of her body. But...despite the sleep she had experienced...she was too exhausted to care. "Me and Hecate found you on the grounds of Demeter's room. In your anger, you brought the room down. Along with an Olympian." 

Her eyes fell to her hands, of the destruction they caused. This power...whatever it was, was so out of her clutches. Clearly emotionally-wired, too. 

"I know that you won't agree with my actions. And I'm willing to take full responsibility for that. But I will also enlighten you that I am a man of his word. Here - in my realm - you can live freely. You are a grown woman. I am not going to make any of your decisions for you." He spoke with pride. She could tell this meant more to him than he could vocally muster. 

"And by your realm, you mean that I-" 

"Yes, you are in the Underworld." His eyes found hers, holding them. This must of been the part he feared.

The Underworld. Where the dead were sent and Hades ruled them. This wasn't what she was expected whatsoever. The candlelit room that was so exquisite...and Hades in his normalcy. 

"Are you angry?" Her silence must of crossed him wrongly. Because where there should be shocked, she felt exhaustion. 

"Does she know I'm here?" She may of ignored the initial question, but all she could focus on was the possibility of Demeter's focus. She knew her mother almost as much as her mother knew her. Persephone knew that she was viewed as Demeter's most prized treasure, and in her eighteen years she had been so far away from her. She doubted that Demeter would let her now...especially after the events that just unwinded.

"No, she has no idea. Neither have me and Hecate told anybody else." His answer brought comfort. 

It was disgusting to think that, she knew, but it comforted her that she could hold off the confrontation. For however long that she wished. Mother would be undoubtedly furious, but Persephone needed this time to gather the fragments of herself. And with Hades providing her a choice...

"I want to stay." 

Hades's eyes snapped to hers in seconds. Like the confirmation brought him zeal or wordless surprise, she could not tell, but Persephone did know that the emptiness in her chest remained. 

"For as long as you'll allow me, that is." Not that she had any worries. If he stole her away then clearly her presence offered some value to him. 

"You may stay as long as you wish. And if you need anything I'm right here at your request. Hecate will check on you when I can not." He arose from the bed, eyes never lingering away from hers. It was so intense how long he could stare at her. It made her feel just a bit admirable, but all the same the sorrow was too overpowering to care. 

"Thank you. I just...I just want to sleep." Her voice almost cracked on the last word, because she knew that despite the exhaustion her nightmares would keep her awake and the little goddess would be left with nothing but her thoughts. And that terrified her enough. 

His chest rose and fell, an exhale of a breath faltering his features. He was at war with himself to say something, with his muscular arms behind his back and that distant look in those orbs. But she casted everything aside, falling to the bed when pressing the soft covers higher to her face. She rolled over to avoid his gaze, and almost hated herself for it. She wanted to cling to him. Desperately. But clinging to another person had only brought the buildup of an explosion, and that kept her away. Tears welled her tear-ducts, lip quivering as she fought to stay silent until he left the room.

Would she ever be close to anybody ever again? After what happened she was almost fully deciding that the answer was a no, but it hurt her so much to imagine distancing herself away from Hades. _I_ _don't_ _want_ _to_ _hurt_ _you,_ her thoughts filled her mind, _I just..._ _I_ _can't_ _._

"Of course." He finally conceded, the pressure on her throat the equivalent to swallowing glass. "I will see you in the morning." 

The shuffling of heavy feet was followed by the sudden darkness, the room enveloped in its sleepy essence as the click of the door signaled his dismissal. 

Sobs were trembling through Persephone's body only seconds after that click.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. What a chapter! By the way guys, when I tell you this is 8231 words, I am not joking. I am so tired but enjoyed every second of writing that.
> 
> I want you all to pay attention to Persephone's mannerisms and reactions from this point on. As you can tell from her waking up she is settling into her pain. I want this story to be as emotionally empowering as possible - beginning with the healing process. 
> 
> Also I am absolutely in love with writing Thanatos. His interaction with Hecate was so iconic. 
> 
> Anyways, I love you guys. Enjoy your day and I will see you soon with another update!
> 
> ~ A


	10. eight : death's most beautiful fixation

**TO SAY THAT HADES HAD** a rough night was an understatement. It wasn't because of the sleeping conditions - not when Thanatos let him steal the couch occupying the side of his room - but instead how his thoughts induced the never-ending insomnia that practically ran his life. Hades spent the entirety of the night up and down thinking of the emptiness in Persephone's eyes, only finding restless sleep two hours before his internal alarm clock chimed. She wanted to stay. She wanted to stay but Hades wasn't stupid in any definition, knowing full-well the reasons behind her flustered decision were clear. She was just too easy for him to read. And he didn't know if he hated it because he cared so much or loved it because he desperately wanted to resolve that ache in her chest.

He would never force anything upon her. That was how a person pushed you further away. But when it came to her mentality and how she processed these clusters of emotions, getting her out of bed would be his first step. Only today he wouldn't push, not when there was so much to be done. Persephone needed time to her lonesome, to think and to familiarize herself with her surroundings.

In _his_ bedroom.

Unfortunate.

But was it?

Hades grunted in the darkness, outstretching his body like a cat while the cold air seeped into his sore muscles. The pressure behind his eyes was a whole another type of hell, signaling the mind-crushing migraine that had settled even hours after his unfitful sleep. Snores were emitted from the other side of the room, Hades's hand shooting up to massage his temples at his best friend's _especially_ known prescense. Fates forbid he ever stop making noise, for all of the skies would come toppling down. Honestly how did women deal with _that_?

Finding the ground in the dark with his two feet, Hades briefly stood up, grabbing the hard pillow from the couch to trudge over to Thanatos's half-naked sleeping body. Hades's black eyebrow rose at the God of Death's plausible sleeping position.

Thanatos was outstretched on the king size bed, navy blue covers rippling to the right side of the region. One of his long legs were bent to what had to be the most uncomfortable angle, while his other leg sat in a straight line. The god's black hair defied every level of gravity while it mashed into one of the many pillows he clung to but also stood halfway in the air. From his widened mouth inducing the most horrendous snores, drool broke from his lips like the River Styx astream.

"This is so depressing." Hades whispered to himself. "Honestly what has my life become?"

He was giving up his own bed because he was becoming soft. Thanatos even seemed _so_ content to rave about that last night.

Until he threatened Thanatos with Cerberus. Then he shut the hell up and began his snore fest.

Sighing, Hades took the hardened pillow in his hands and smacked his best friend right atop the back of his head. Thanatos shot right up, groaning with frustration when he saw the King of the Underworld above him with an eyebrow arisen.

"Wakey wakey to you, sunshine." Hades greeted while using his power to turn on the lights, Thanatos rolling his squinted eyes in response.

The weight of the mattress under Thanatos's body dipped as he rolled back under the covers - a blob of blankets.

"Fuck you." He called in a raspy voice, every sense of tiredness but solemn annoyance dripping from his tone.

Hades half-turned from the door, an ebony eyebrow rising at the god under his blankets. He sometimes pondered if actually paying him would drastically change his work ethic and standard of living.

"Awh, he's hiding under his _blankies_. I should paint a picture for Nyx."

The shit-eating grin that possessed Hades's handsome features was relentless. So when the rustle of movement took hold of the silence across the room, Hades wasn't at all surprised at Thanatos's classic response of using that _particular_ finger. Except this time his entire body was masked by the duvet, the singular sliver of skin peaking out from the covers and in the open.

"Good morning to you too. I'd advise you begin your day, or I might _accidentally_ ask the maids to clean out my wine collection." Although he was already out the door, the room exploded into chaos as Thanatos pursued his request with such speed that even Hades knew the god would put Hermes himself to shame.

**~**

Despite sneaking into his bathroom to completely erase every speck of growing tiresome from his complexion, Hades could still feel the weight of Persephone's prescense from feet away. He made haste soaking in his bath of crystallized bath salts, not even taking time to let the stress seep from his aching bones. Not that he ever seeked success doing that anyways, but there was still hope under the layer of never-ending disappointment. 

  
Meditation was something that Athena endlessly recommended, but he found that his thoughts raced even with the slightest movement. Yes, he was patient, and yes, he was also very resilient upfront, but imagining the energy it would take to relax his body from eons of constant movement was just too much. He feared that there was no solution for this stress. It would only build atop of an ancient force. And taking a vacation surely did nothing for him, because the number one contributor to his thoughts was laying in his bed at this given moment.

Haste was his guidance solely because if he allowed himself too much time to think in his routine, then all he would do was think of her. Of all these unnecessary scenarios that would likely never make their way into the slim void that is reality. Chances and percentages were just an analytical thing that gave people hope, and Hades was a man of realism.

Still Hades rushed to brush his teeth and comb through his hair, not even stopping to trim at the notice of his growing stubble. Even if avoiding a beard at every cost was scorched into his subconscious, he couldn't help but feel guilt at even potentially awaking Persephone. She needed her rest, especially after the hell this week has provided for her. He would ignore the stupidity and dress with speed for her sake.

Only when he walked out of the wash room freshly coated in his scent of pine and smoky indulgences, he found chocolate brown eyes peering at him immediately from the doorway of the illumination from the bathroom. Brown eyes that automatically snapped close, as if she knew she had been looking much too long. Caught. 

He couldn't help the amused smirk that alit his features, leaning against the doorway softly to cross his forearms over each other. Persephone had even lifted his velvet covers over her mouth to avoid further suspicion, thinking that she had done something. 

"You don't have to pretend that you are asleep if I already know you are awake." He kept his tone soft; steady. Yet the amuse bled through. Still the poor woman didn't budge, only rolling over in avoidance, facing the dark.

Well already he's found an interesting aspect that she shared effortlessly with his best friend. Maybe Thanatos would be a good friend. When she had the energy to speak that was. 

"Okay." He sighed, making a show of eneciating the sigh. "I suppose I shall make my way to-" He got halfway through the room before a feminine sigh sounded, triggering a calculated stop in his tracks. And he believed that Persephone would be so much more stubborn than that. 

"No, wait! Please come back, I was only laying here." Hades turned to face her in all of her glory. The sleeves of her sweater were stretched to her elbows, fiery red curls a mess on top of her head. The small detail humanized the immortal in ways that had never made as much sense to him as it did now, and he toppled for it. There were still those nasty eyebags rounding under her eyes, but he knew that they improved with her rest since yesterday. Even just awakening from sleep she still had that heavenly glow, her prescense louder than any noise. She was beautiful even in the darkness. But still...that deadness in her eyes broke his still heart. 

"Don't apologize for something so small. I still find it very interesting how you believed you'd just get away with pretending." 

He was teasing her, and she knew it. Knew it because her eyebrow rose, plump lips in a frown. He shone with her personality. _Please_ _don't_ _whisk away,_ he thought with every ounce of hope, _I_ _won't_ _allow it._

"As I find it very interesting why you were making such noise in a sleeping woman's washroom. For somebody with such a reputation of being silent you love to make noise." Her eyes shone like the stars as he held him, her tone equally as teasing but matter of factly. He would wait to tell her that this was _his_ room she was sleeping in, just to keep her on her toes. 

Temper. Even a snap of an attitude he'd never expect from her. He liked it solely for the unraveling of the events from the previous days. 

"I see somebody is very much the morning person." He smiled as he took a seat a good measure of space away from her on his bed, watching as her eyes found everywhere but him, shoulders slumped as she toyed with a piece of the velvet covers. 

"I am." She simply whispered. "In mother's realm I would watch the sunrise from my bedroom each morning. I rose with it." 

The chill of the air bit his skin as he fought the urge to cringe. At the stupidity of his choice of his words because it ultimately led to her sadness. In a realm of darkness, in a realm that was underground, it was blatant knowledge that the sun would never shine. Already it has changed her so much to adjust. Adjust under a situation she would obviously loathe. Guilt offset in his stomach. Looking at her now...at her avoiding his gaze...he wondered if he made the wrong choice of bringing her here. Even if she chose herself to stay. 

But looking at that shallow dark in her eyes, only to compare it to the day they had met, he didn't regret it. He didn't regret it at all. Because even if it took worlds of fighting and patience, he'd map a route of helping her find herself again. And in that route he'd walk it with her. 

"We may not have a sunrise, but we have something so much more astonishing." Not the moonlight either, but something he'd keep etched in his memory to show her. "I could show you, unless you prefer the element of surprise?"

Persephone's head slowly turned, eyes holding his with seconds to simmer in curiosity. Then they went blank. As if the emotion was never there in the first place. Fates how he loathed it. 

"I'm afraid I'll sleep in. I still feel exhausted." Her mouth was moving. And his thoughts were screaming to a void of wanting anything but those words. So when she rustled to put her head on the bed again, Hades sighed and stood up. 

"Of course. But just to let you know, you nailed the timing. In Greece it would be sunrise now." They both woke at the same time, and that provided some oddity of comfort. 

His feet guided him to his beautiful door, every bone in his body begging him to look back. And when he did, at the body that was rolled over and still as death, he knew that this woman would change every aspect of his life without even a thought. Her words gave him peace for the morning. 

"You weren't loud, by the way." He never denied it. "I just have habits that are impossible to break." 

Her voice was breaking. She was mere seconds away from a breakdown and he could detect it. Could feel the tug of some incredible force inside of his heart calling. But he could also feel the invasion in her tone, as if all he yearned for was her lonesome. Except nobody deserved to be alone. Not like this. 

"We all do, Persephone." The click of the doorknob would signal that every word spoken would stay concealed inside of this room, inside of this moment. "And I believe that breaking them both ruins parts of us and fixes us at once." 

Shutting that door for the day on her would be a habit he'd avoid at all costs.

**~**

Hecate felt refreshed. More refreshed than she had in years, because the environment she had forced herself to forget now enveloped her energy in the comfort she once experienced every single morning. Hecate allowed herself the luxuries of vanity as she readied herself in silks of pure lavender, pulling her short black locks into a tight ponytail. The Titaness promised herself since the beginning of the new era that each day would be a power move, and dressing accordingly to that rule was her zone of happiness. Not that she dressed to impress the people that surrounded her (the crossroads were ever-quiet), but she did it because it was all deserved for her. She had fought to build this powerful name, and she would fight only further to uphold it. 

Which is why striding through the electric hallways of the House of Hades with the powerful click of black heels made her feel even more at home. For once, the surface was aligned with the exterior. 

Except power was interrupted when she strode into the kitchen, the smells of hickory bacon, savory sausage, fluffy eggs, sugary lemonade, perfectly spiced cinnamon bread were all tainted by waves of sleepy shadow. Quiet snores radiated from the sleeping source across the table, Hecate's eyes wondering to the drooling God of Death sleeping in the chair of the table, his head resting on top of the cherrywood without so much as a care in the universe. She rolled her eyes, striding to the man with contained force. 

Hecate analyzed the features she glossed over the day previous. His build was muscular, the veins of his forearms saying hello under his thinly layered shirt. His hands were also insanely large compared to hers, corded with muscle and vein, resting on the table in front of him. His tiny lips were defined in an intense cupid's bow that would of been considered attractive if it weren't for the drool that leaked from his throat. Slender eyes confirmed his relations to Nyx without a doubt, even his wideset nose the equivalent to his mother's. Glossed over short black hair was styled to perfection atop his skull, and she wondered if he qualified as one of the men that awoke with an effortless style. The black mustache that outlined his lips was an interesting choice. 

All in all, Hecate was convinced. Convinced that this man had done good by the Underworld, and was secure in his position. Even if walking in on him asleep the first morning of her arrival was unprofessional, she would let it slide for now. Everybody in the entirety of the universe knew of Hecate's intense business savvy. 

Lifting her slender but toned arm, Hecate snapped, projecting a noise charm over the action so the sound bled through every inch of the room. The sleeping god shot up at the alarm clock with solid surprise. Hecate remained unfazed. 

"I'm awake! Damn, will I ever catch a break?" Thanatos exclaimed as he slouched in his seat. Only his entire face changed at the questioning features of the goddess above him. "Why am I not surprised?" 

"Why am I not surprised that I find you drooling all across the table on my first day back?" She looked like perfection as she crossed her arms across her chest, only to radiate authority. 

Thanatos sniggered at the stance, nonplus shocking through the goddess at his reaction. He seemed indifferent as he reached for a cup inches away, following with the black coffee that he poured. 

"Awh don't look at me like that, little mouse. You almost look scary." Anger richocheted through her. 

How was this...this...amateur evoking such reactions from her? And how dare he speak of her height as if it defined her character?

"Little mouse?" She echoed with exclamation. Thanatos lifted the solid black coffee to his lips, shock running through Hecate like the speed of light. Except the opening was too great that she painted her features to mask a devilish smile. 

"Well no wonder you are so insulting in the morning, only the most evil of monsters drink coffee black." 

Thanatos's face was the definition of offended, looking at Hecate with utter disbelief as his eyes shot to the steaming drink in his hands as if it were the most divine thing in this universe. 

"I will stick this _amazing_ coffee up-" 

"Thanatos! You are awake!" The booming figure of Hades strode through the double arches across the room, Hecate pleased at Thanatos's jaw reaching the floor. "And now that you are awake I expect that you said a very polite good morning to Hecate?" 

"She started it." Thanatos proceeded to grumble of the importance of black coffee and how all people should invest in the _significant_ idealism, but Hades simply ignored the god with a wave of his hand, settling into the head of the table with ease. 

"Sometimes I feel as if I have a child instead of an employee." Hecate snorted. Thanatos on the other hand looked taken aback. 

"Why did everybody just wake up this morning and choose to abuse Thanatos? Do I _look_ like a child to you? Oh wait, no, because _this,"_ His hands swept over his body. "Is six foot four inches of sexy." 

Hecate sighed into her lemonade, settling into her seat across from Thanatos at the table as she reached for a plate to begin her feasting endeavor. Yes, this was home. With clear add-ons, but home nonetheless.

"Mhm." Hades entertained with the flick of an eyebrow, ignoring Thanatos's foolery to get straight to business. "Well good news. Persephone has finally woken up. She has been awake since midnight." 

Hecate froze at even beginning to reach for a pancake. Every fibre of her being was set off at the revelation, the goodness inside of her instantly wanting to gather her wits and head to Persephone. Even across the palace she could feel her ebb and flow of power, only contained to go back to unstable every few seconds. All facts aside, it was crystal clear that Persephone wasn't in the correct mentality, and they had much work to do if they would work towards containing her powers. Hecate had already planned to offer her assistance. 

"How is she feeling?" Rhetorical. 

"She...she is the same. Exactly what you would expect." Hades's eyes were distant. Hecate couldn't break through them. "She is insistent on her rest, but I fear that letting her sleep her time away will not even be in the question." 

Even Thanatos looked solemn. Already the effects of the Flower Goddess's guilt had settled. And already Hades seemed to want to fix it. Blamed himself for it when he didn't need to. When it wasn't his place.

"And I agree, however, this process is one we will have to formulate with baby steps. Yes we will have to eventually need to drag her out of her space, but we also need to get her adjusted. She still hasn't met the bobble head yet-" 

"Hey!" Thanatos called with cinnamon bread stuffed in his mouth. 

"But we will get her adjusted. She seems most attached to you, Hades." Hades's eyes met hers. "Maybe spend more time with her? If she has decided to stay?" 

"She has. Which is miraculous in its own. However I can see that her motive is clearly rooted with staying away from her mother." At that obvious comment, Thanatos perked up, clearing his throat as if he had something important to announce. Two pairs of eyes made their way to the god. 

"Speaking of, in the little amount of _my_ freetime between the time you had me working like a dog at Judgments, my Lord," Hades nodded towards him with a grin despite the scowl Thanatos presented, "I found the scroll for the guidelines made by Aphrodite and Hera themselves."

Hecate could see the gears turning in Hades's mind, churning in an attempt to register something he must of missed. Yet even Hecate's mind blanked at these supposed guidelines made by the two goddesses. What scroll did he speak of? How did it connect to this conversation? She knew that she couldn't explain it, but something nauseating settled into her stomach then. 

"What guidelines?" Hades questioned while intricately cutting into a thick piece of sausage. His tone almost aligned with annoyance, but also caution. As if fear that his plan would crumble. 

"Well, with Hera being the Goddess of Childbirth and Aphrodite being the Goddess of Love, clearly they did some digging together in case of a future scenario that almost akins to this one. And it turns out - in ancient lines - that if Demeter is to discover of Persephone's stay here then she can legally be taken back above ground." 

Fear completely took hold of Hecate with an iron fist, nausea falling over her in waves. There were so many questions she wanted to ask now, but opening her mouth would entail her tripping over her words. Hera didn't seem to be the type of woman to entrap a woman - an eighteen year old woman who was meant to make her own choices, not just as an eighteen year old but as a _being_ _-_ a woman in a situation that was as cataclysmic as this one. Hera had suffered, she should know the struggle. And Aphrodite? Surely from Zeus alone there had to be trauma she never wished for others to experience. 

"What the hell." Contained anger, raging inside of Hades - could be felt by Hecate. It was almost as if the energy was the color red, furious in its nature by also a ripple of grey; confusion. "There must be exceptions? In Persephone's situation, where she is as depressed as she is. And she is eighteen! An adult! Even as a minor she had the right to her own decision." The rise of his voice triggered Thanatos's response. 

"And I agree. However because this set of rules was created towards the beginning of Aphrodite's existence, it wouldn't surprise me that she made this purely to piss few people off." In her spiteful nature, Hecate wouldn't be surprised either. "But, I did find a loophole." 

That ripple of new energy was put on pause at the word _loophole._ Everything had a loophole. Especially in Olympian culture. 

"Which is?" Hecate breathed. 

"In black print, specifically from Hera, it states, _Only_ _whenever_ _an immortal between the ages of_ _sixteen_ _and thirty years old is legal to_ _stay_ _in a realm away from their biological parentage by marriage. If_ _the_ _marriage is observed by another entity_ _and_ _approved by one-half of the_ _parentage_ _is this law applicable."_

The entire planet stopped on the midst of its axis. Chills shot down Hecate's bare arms at the ghost of his words. Marriage. A tie that was sacred in their culture. Something that would carry for the rest of the ages. Her eyes connected with Hades and it was so silent she swore that she could hear a pin drop. 

They had one chance. One chance to keep everything silent. If they were to go down the route of risking their chances with Demeter, that was. But the safer option was the one that would change life for the God of the Underworld forever. So now it was down to decision. Decision that Hecate knew Hades wouldn't allow himself to make on his own. He was too good. Too good with keeping his word for Persephone. 

"Marriage." Hades uttered, like the word was alienated on his tongue. "So marriage is the only safe, only legal way out of this." 

"With approval. But that would entail you striding up to Demeter and asking for Persephone's hand. And we both already know how that would go." Hecate was speaking against her entire train of thought.

The room was sober in its desperation. Hades was deep in his conversation of internal thoughts while Thanatos was distanced. The three would do anything to come up with a situation that was worthy enough to birth into existence. 

"You're wrong." Thanatos spoke in Hecate's direction. "You're wrong because the rule said nothing about her mother, it said one-half of her parentage. Zeus. Zeus is her father and in technicality the approval you recieve from him is applicable to the rule." 

Oh my Gods. Thanatos was correct. One-half was the golden number, and in that number this entire event could work to their advantage. If and only if everything went enroute smoothly - including the union of the God the Underworld with the Goddess of Spring, if they so chose to go through with seeking Zeus's request. 

"You're a genius, Thanatos." Hades exclaimed in a whisper. 

"Well yes I am." Thanatos tipped his cup to the praise and took a long sip of the bitter substance. "So what are we going to do, boss?" 

Both minor gods looked to the major, and although there was hope in their awakening, Hades looked every bit of in the struggle as he was on the inside. Hecate wanted to speak words to reassure him, but she knew that something as large as this was not her place. 

"I'm going to have to talk to Persephone. I promised that I would never decide for her. This isn't the way I imagined ever getting married, but if I must, then I'll do it for her." 

And in his decision, the silence that followed carried until the end of their breakfast. 

**~**

Day. 

Dawn. 

Dusk. 

Night. 

Sunrise. 

Sunset.

And the moon with all of it's infinite darkness. 

Celestials, stars and all of the world's ever-lasting natural astonishments ran through Persephone's mind in a pathetic attempt to self-soothe the goddess. Tear stains stayed bleeding into her cheeks as the lump in her throat seemed to never leave. She was choking on her tears, clutching one of the long pillows in between her legs and abdomen in some stupid effort for comfort. She absolutely hated how her selfish mind begged for the hug of her mother, only to remember what she had done. The bite that accompanied the memory was too much, too much pressure coupled with endless despair.

These blankets smelled of him. It was puzzling how much they did. Pine, smokey secrets and the scent of his wisping shadows. Every time she tried to scream out her sobs, the scent stopped her. Persephone almost hated the little detail, but knew with all of her immortal broken heart that she couldn't. Hades meant well, and Persephone wanted to be independent, but secretly she wished to cling to someone. Anything. And he was the closest thing she felt to comfort in this unknown place. 

Persephone had counted every single tick of the clock since his dismissal. It had been four hours and thirty-two minutes precisely. Her stomach was empty but not at all hungry, eyes raw and puffed. But the tears didn't stop. And sleep wouldn't come. There was just too much to swallow. So instead she invited the pressure on her skull, the migraine the equivalent to hell. Her eyes were so dry she was convinced they'd bleed. And oh Gods, her heart! The poor girl's heart was still beating but not at all thriving. This wasn't living, it was surviving. 

Would she always feel this way? Wanting to stay concealed behind closed doors just in fear of the tragic world with all of it's surface? Her life would never be the same. It would never match the magnitude it had before. Even with all of the previous restrictions from Mother, the Flower Princess felt destined to fall. 

Or to destroy. 

The thought brought tremors instantly down her body. Even with the heavy creme sweater and leggings, she felt cold. Something told her it wasn't because of the temperature. Rolling over in the four-poster bed, Persephone finally sat up and sighed with a grimace. Truly her sinuses were inflamed. Incredible how immortal healing did nothing for the intermingle of her emotions and appearance. 

Hilarious how she had been sleeping in a room she knew close to nothing about. Chocolate eyes swallowing the enormous bedroom around her, her breath was swept away at the personality the room seemed to shout. It didn't match hers whatsoever, but it told a story. Paintings of splashed red, grey and black watercolor forming the largest tapestry on the wall next to the towering doors told the story of birth and battle, inquisition and resolve. In front of the tapestry was a mountainous work desk of pure black, ink and scrambled papers cramed out of inorganization. The occupant clearly was a hard-worker who was too in their workspace to even organize that little corner. Next to the black desk stood a singular bookshelf full of a small collection of stories, organized by color beginning with the darks that eventually faded to light. Curiosity became her as she allowed feet to prode to the bookshelf, fingers running through the titles. A loveseat of a deep, romantic red was beside the shelf. 

On the wall in front of the bed stood a grand mirror and chest, the top organized with an array of candles, scents and intriguingly enough - a fluffed scarlet pillow with a gorgeous diadem on top. The crown was large, meant to fit a male's head no doubt. Persephone spent more time than she probably should have peering at the item, because when she looked up again her eyes met with almond peepers she had never knew the existence of. 

"Oh so he let's you sleep in his room and touch up on his crown, huh? I've known him for centuries and we haven't even approached that basis." 

The male voice made Persephone jump back, her entire demeanor changing at the sight of the unknown figure. He was tall, with hair of raven black and a body that unleashed curious shadows. Persephone was reminded of Hades on Olympus, and a part of her was soothed. 

"Woah, woah, woah! I didn't mean to-" The male began, only to be interrupted by the sound of clicking heels. He sighed before she even came in, the Titaness of Witchcraft scowling the man before she could even process his entire stance. 

This ought to be interesting. 

"Thanatos you moron I told you to let me do this alone." Persephone almost laughed at the height difference between the two. Of how this woman was two heads below the man and telling him off. 

"Yes you did. But did I listen, little pain in my ass? No." Hecate shot eyes of fire to him, Persephone nervous that she was about to witness a murder. It was enough to make her intervene. 

"Uhm, hi. I'm still here." Waving for good measure as she said it made it effective. Both gods looked to the woman and instantly calmed, straightening next to one another. 

"My apologies." Thanatos - the god she had never met - was the first to speak. "I didn't mean to startle you. I am Thanatos, Hades's second-in-command. If you are ever to need anything I am at your aid." Thanatos placed a hand upon his heart and bowed, Hecate seemingly pleased with his manners. 

Thanatos tried to meet her eyes, but the access was denied. There was a trip over the pause with his confused expression, but Persephone gathered her words and eased her anxiety, trying to swallow down the previous sobs from this morning. She hoped he didn't notice the flicker that overtook her features, a sad excuse of a smile on her full lips. Her fingers went to adjust a curl behind her ears. 

"I'm Persephone." There were only two words, but it was enough. Her social meter was already exponentially falling and the conversation had just began. 

Still Thanatos seemed to ignore the small endeavor, smiling back warmly. It was as if he knew she was trying - and that was enough. 

"And you are lovely." _Please,_ Persephone hoped, _don't_ _say it out of pity. Say it because you mean it._ "Anyway, I need to get back to work. Have a beautiful afternoon Persephone, little mouse." Then he was running out the door because Hecate's hell fury eyes followed him. 

Only whenever Thanatos was out the room did Persephone chuckle. Not because of intention, but because meeting the man gave her genuine joy. At the sound of the laugh Hecate looked to her with gleaming eyes, the smile on her face gorgeous. 

"Sorry if he was bothering you, Thanatos has quite the personality." Persephone allowed herself to sit upon the bed, triggering words to rise in her newly unlocked memory. 

_Oh so he let's you sleep in his room and touch up on his crown, huh?_ His room. That would piece together why he was sneaking around in the bathroom this morning, why he was the first person to see when she awoke and Gods why his bed smelled exactly like him. Her cheeks heated while she remembered mocking him for their little exchange this morning. Instant embarrassment settled into her gut - she must of sounded so stupid. She fought the blush. 

But what could that mean? Her sleeping in his room? Nothing. Maybe it meant nothing at all. Maybe that just meant he cared about her comfort. Considered her fragile feelings. 

"He didn't. I know I really didn't look it but I enjoyed it." She tried to push for a smile, but the second to last word felt so foreign she felt silly speaking. "Is this...Hades's room?" 

Hecate's brow rose in amusement, clearly fighting the tug of her lips. "It is. Speaking of he wants to have lunch with you in about two hours. Getting some food into your system would be good. That and he wants to speak about some things." 

A red eyebrow rose in questioning. Although the thought of food was nauseating, she pushed down one part of Hecate's words to focus on the other. Persephone's energy was close to nothing, and if Hades wanted to speak to her then the subject would likely be heavy. What she wanted matched exactly how she felt, and she didn't want to leave this room. Leaving it would entail too much movement, too much function after taking so much. 

Her silence must of been evidence of her wishes to deny, because Hecate sighed and sat beside her on the bed. Persephone couldn't explain it, but Hecate's prescense was soothing. It made her feel calm to be around someone who didn't expect something out of her. 

"I know how hard this is for you." Hecate's tone was soft. "I understand that being in this place could possibly be one of the worst situations for a woman who thrives in the day. But this place...it's full of zen and magic that is trashed on. I will never try to sway your opinion. You have suffered so much that that alone is another foreseeable evil." Hecate was furling and unfurling her fingers together, and Persephone couldn't tear her eyes away. Was she shaking?

"But I will tell you that we mean well. I don't want you to be alone and learn that being this way is the only way to live. **Because** **seeking comfort in a ghost town will only kill you** **internally**. And that's not living. That isn't genuinely living." She spoke as if she had stories of her own. As if there were secrets on her lips that were too powerful to keep behind. Persephone wanted to invade. Wanted to learn of what crafted her in such a way to talk with a tone that skittered over her bones. 

But Persephone knew more than anybody else that trauma lived in your head. She wouldn't push her, especially when Hecate knew the importance of not pushing Persephone. 

With a sigh, Hecate gathered her purple skirts and stood up, walking over to the bathroom. In that short time (truly it didn't feel short at all) Persephone kept quietly to herself, thoughts finally put to sleep. Only whenever Persephone heard the bath running did her lips move against her own will. 

"Hecate?" The Goddess of Witchcraft stepped from the bathroom, holding a towel of pure white in her arms. "I would like to know if there is anyway you could help me. With my nightmares." 

She wanted to stop then but Hecate's expression seemed to beg for further information. It took Persephone way too much time to gather her words, but Hecate seemed to have the patience of a saint when it came to the Spring Goddess. 

"I have found that over the years my nightmares reflect my reality. They become worse and worse with stress, and right now, I can barely sleep. And when I can, I can't do it soundly. I want to dream. I am eighteen and I don't even know what it feels like to yearn after a dream." Tears were rising to the surface while that stupid lump struck her throat like glue. 

She couldn't look up at Hecate. She felt too pathetic to do such a thing. Under her gaze, her skin sizzled where the Goddess of Magic would touch her with her eyes. There was no judgement, but Persephone's heart screamed. 

Legs moved, a rustle of movement. Hecate's words followed. 

"Look up." The tone was so authoritative that Persephone's chocolate brown orbs met hazel. "You are no little girl, you are a goddess. A goddess who has overcome and will work through her tragedies. The real heroes are the women that admit their fall, that work through it with stride. Even if it means asking for a sleeping drought to dream the dreams you deserve to be dreaming, you will still be a goddess. Not because you were birthed as such, but because you are one by heart." 

Hecate didn't break eye-contact until she was turning away, daring Persephone to run for the things she would need to fight for. And damn, did it work. Suddenly she wanted to rise to her feet and bring her speech to existence. She wanted to conquer and climb the mountains she simply stared at in the past.

Although the Goddess of Flowers still felt overwhelmingly empty, the words left more of an impact than could ever be stressed. 

**~**

It was almost depressing how nervous he felt. How Hades was damn near - well, he wasn't entirely sure how old he was, but he just knew he was _old,_ and was tripping over a luncheon with a woman he had already had in his arms. He told himself this wasn't a date, despite Thanatos squaking about how much it really was, and that this conversation would all come down to business at the end of the day. But this was anything but business. It was to be the most awkward conversation of his life. 

Because this was about marriage. Something that although shit on by his family members, was still recognized as sacred amoung Olympian culture. Marrying Persephone would mean living a life tied to her, making her the Queen of the Underworld and weaving her into future myths told by mortals alike. He already felt endlessly attracted to her, in a sense that wasn't at all just physical but also a call mentally, but who would ever want to be married to _him_ of all people? He didn't stand a chance. He might as well blow this to oblivion when there was still time. 

Except he couldn't physically get up from his seat. He sat in front of succulent wines, chocolate-covered strawberries, crisp breaded sandwiches and every delicacy alike. He was a god. One-thirds of the universe. He would act like it for her. 

But how in hell can you marry someone if they don't even know your favorite color? Or he her favorite drink? Was he insane or was it his sibilings for constantly deep-diving into these things with the blink of an eye? It took nothing for the union of Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Even less for another handful of couples that he was unfortunately associated with. 

All thoughts were put to rest at the sight of the woman who entered the room, the days behind them like a grain of salt and marriage being the only thing he could dream of when he saw her. 

The Goddess of Spring was divine. Her red hair looked absolutely soft to the touch, woven to a complex braid that hung over her shoulder - little wisps and whispers of red hair peeking to add character. And damn, how she wore navy blue. The gown was sensational on her body, velvet that hugged all the right places yet still flowed to the ground. Long sleeves were a beautiful touch. 

He could marry this woman. He would. Because never in his life had he felt the way he does when she walked into the room. Their eyes meeting only contributed to the magic, his feet suddenly moving and their bodies close as he approached her. 

Persephone was looking down, mascara giving her eyes the flutter that matched a butterfly. He had seen her without makeup and was still devastated over the sight. 

"What's your secret?" He breathed, catching her gaze. The smile that won his features took no effort at all. Victory. 

"I'm not sure what you're playing at?" 

"How do you always look so perfect?" It was blunt, but also ballsy. His accent only added to the fire that took her cheeks, so scarlet that it was as red as her hair. 

"You see I believed once that I had the secret to that, but then I met you." Their eyes never broke apart. But when he cleared his throat, it was almost as if the magic of the moment had dissolved, Persephone moving for the table with haste. 

He hated it. He hated how he knew these next few months would be by far the most excruciating for her, and all he could do was stand by. Hades needed more answers. 

"So I was told that we have some talking to do." Persephone sat into the chair he kept outstretched for her, pushing her in with ease. Only when Persephone was accommodated was when he took his own seat. 

"We do. And I understand that what I'm about to explain may be much too process, so I'm here to answer all of your questions. With an ultimatum of course." A smirk. 

Her chocolate brown orbs found his as she made a face. "An ultimatum? From the devil himself?" He thrived when she smiled. "Why am I not at all surprised?"

"Well Goddess of Spring, you didn't think this was going to be simple, did you?" The flicker of his fingers in mid-air resulted in a China plate floating towards the redhead. "For every item of food you eat I will gradually explain the situation. Nutrients are important. Even if they're useless for us immortals, that is."

Her eyes were analytical as they took in the plate and the plates of food on the table. They both knew what he was doing here. She couldn't avoid it. 

"You're serious?" To that all he could do was wink, grabbing a plate himself and already beginning it with the mixed vegetables.

"As serious as death, dear." 

"Then we have a deal. I want you to start from the beginning." She moved for the pile of buttered rolls, placing one on her plate and making a show of tearing pieces from the bread, popping it in her mouth. Hades was pleased. 

"So eager. Maybe adding some of that lovely chicken will convince me further?" Persephone rolled her eyes at him, gathering the thigh of the cheesy garlic chicken in front of her. 

"Who knew that the God of the Underworld could be so demanding?" She smirked. 

"Only when it comes to something I want." He allowed her time to process that. "Anyways, Demeter obviously knows nothing of your location. It turns out that in my efforts to get you down here Hecate ran into Hera, who was completely aware of your presence. You were invisible to the eye but Hera could feel you." 

Hades was amazed that Persephone hadn't dropped the fork by the fear that engulfed her. "You're telling me that my step-mother knows of my abduction but said nothing?" 

It took everything not to flinch at the word abduction. But that was what had been done. An abduction. 

"Indeed." He paused to chew on the savory roast. "Hera was insistent that you come with us. And considering that it has been days and Demeter has yet to bust down the gateways of the Underworld, we can absolutely trust my sister."

Before going on, Hades's eyes monitored Persephone's progress with her plate, only carrying with his words when he saw her cutting the chicken for more of its taste. 

"As I said last night, it was not at all in the plan to keep you here. I provided you with a choice in my realm as a woman and you chose to stay. Therefore on your own will, I consider that enough. But certain measures are...illegally preventing me from keeping you here, Persephone." 

Her entire face crumbled. He felt like he was putting her through this wicked game of messing with her emotions and he just wanted to end the explanation here. Ask her to marry him and her yes would be enough. But there were still details he couldn't graze over.

"So you're not keeping me here? You're going to make me leave?" The shadowy tug in his heart coupled with her sad eyes broke him. He wanted to reach for her. 

"Absolutely not. You will stay. No matter what anybody else wishes you may stay." It took seconds for the girl to grab her fork again and contain her obvious shaking. "Its just that simply there are rules that are hard to ignore. Ancient rules that entail your parents know that you are here. But that rule has too many risks. If Demeter is to find your location then even I can't deny her taking you away. She could rage war and it would be legal."

"All because of some rules? That's ridiculous." He was becoming accustomed to her agreement on this situation. 

"In every way. But like everything else, there is a loophole. One that...you may find unpleasant. And if you do, then I will take no offense to it." Liar. He was lying for his ego. 

"Well it can't be terrible. And this loophole? If it is done, my mother technically can't take me legally?" 

Silence. He realized then that uttering the words into existence would shape them both forever. This legacy he built would either crumble or grow. It all depended on them. 

"Yes. If you marry me, if you become the Queen of the Underworld - my wife - then your mother wouldn't be able to reach you."

The collision of his words and her reaction was insanity, because this time her mouth was agape, the entire fate of the Underworld hanging on an axis of her decision. Persephone was frozen, hand grasping her fork so tightly he feared she would break sterling silver. _Say_ _something_ _,_ he wanted to scream, trying to reach her eyes. But they were glued to a plate, empty and lacking of anything at all.

His heart fell to his stomach. He shouldn't feel this way. Did he truly believe there was ever a chance in the world that she would agree to marry him? Under what circumstance? Fates he was so stupid. Immortality came with it's fury. This would be one.

But her response was one that he didn't expect.

"Do you truly believe you can love a monster?" A monster. Is that what she - the most heavenly creature on this earth - thought of herself? It was like a slap to the face. Had she even seen _him?_ Heard the stories? He laughed with spite.

"Oh love, what if I told you the monster is me?" The one who ruled death. The one that is Death.

"But why would you want to marry me? I've done so many cruel things. And I-" His shake of the head silenced her, the scrape of the chair against pristine tile taking her by storm.

Hades strode to her, knowing that what he was to do would probably earn him a slap in the face, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Hades knelt beside her chair, on two knees and tipped his head to look only to her. Not the lights, but how her eyes captured them. How the deep scarlet lowlights of her red hair sung to the candlelight. She was breathtaking, and the way she stared back, one would understand that _this,_ that they could work. If a woman could get the God of the Underworld on his knees, then she could achieve anything.

"Look at me." He whispered it, the glassiness that shook her eyes dripping to her cheeks. "You are not a monster. In times of darkness you may feel that way, Persephone. But you are anything but. You are light. And in that I have found a friend. I know that you feel like me denying you may be a favor, but what man does not fall to his knees just by the sight of you? And your mind? Your mind is what shines. I saw every speck of your light, but I will stay for that darkness. The darkness gives power." Tears rolled down her face. She didn't struggle against his gaze.

"How do I fix it?" She sobbed, fingers roughly rising to fight those tears. "How do I fix _me_?"

He wanted to touch her. Not romantically, but to soothe. He wanted to hold her and whisper all the things she wouldn't believe. Because she didn't need to be fixed. She needed to find her control. To best that bastard on Olympus and her treacherous mother. The scars would heal, if they found their stitches.

"Marry me. I know we're doing everything backwards. I know that I know close to nothing of you as you do me. But in our marriage, I can promise to you now, I will help you overcome this. I will help you master this power. You can wield it. I will train you and accompany you through every mission. Thanatos and Hecate are at your aid. I am here through this journey. I am not her. I will never decide for you." She let out another sob at the mention of Demeter, moving forward to find his hand. She grasped it as if he were her lifeline. She needed him.

"Just please...marry me, Persephone. Become my wife." His free hand found her cheek, wiping tears of salty liquid and eye makeup away from her soft skin. He relished the feeling.

The clock was ticking. Drums were playing somewhere and his heartbeat was accelerating tick by tick. The sands of time were cruel, swift.

But the Goddess of Spring was swifter. And her confirmation changed his - both of their lives forever.

"Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! And we are finally getting somewhere!
> 
> So I just wanted to thank you all for being so patient. I understand that it's been a while since my last update and I wanted to sincerely apologize for that. I wrote this chapter with as many jokes as I deemed necessary because in all honesty...I needed them. My mental health is struggling. Even my health alone as well. This world...these characters...they give me peace.
> 
> Writing this adventure and creating it is so beautiful. I write not just for my own happiness but for yours as well. To see so many people already invested in Underworld is incredible. I love you all.
> 
> Stay safe and live happily. Until next update!
> 
> ~ Autumn.


	11. nine : i marked my promise but i found your soul

**HIS STOMACH WAS EMPTY.** Hollow. The twist of awful denial accompanied by the mind's trickery was threatening the excellent exterior of Hades's collected structure as he moved onward through Olympus's palace. There was not a singular thought in his mind that suggested that he could not pull this off, because seeking Zeus's approval for his daughter's hand in marriage had to be the most possible thing in the world considering the amount of kids Zeus had borne. At this point there should be a global proclamation that if anybody wished to marry Zeus's _oh so lucky_ offspring they might as well file for paperwork. It wasn't as if Zeus even read anything all the way through anyways.

Anyways, it wasn't as if Hades was fearing a denial, but instead fear formed at the possibility of Demeter popping into reality out of nowhere to convict him of abduction. If she was still here then this would all blow over, and the plan was as good as gone. But knowing Demeter for as long as Hades has, there was a sense of prediction regarding his sibilings. But this was immortality, and immortality was full of surprises that were impossible to predict.

Guards of all similar builds made no movement to nod at him, although their watchful eyes followed him as Hades approached towering doors of the grand throne room, they made no effort to stop the entity in entering Zeus's domain. Hades's upfront was cold and powerful, as stormy as the clouds that raged on a rainy day. He was swift on his way through those double doors, walking down the long, narrowed velvet carpet that led to two thrones edged in the ancient roots of the castle his own father constructed.

"Look at what the cat dragged in." Feminity shone to the very right of the thrones, Hera positively glowing in her seat as queen. There was shades of pink to her cheeks, color blossoming in the places she would normally be hollow. Even her chocolate hair had been cut to her shoulders in the days he has been gone, the flow of the layers lively. Hades had to do a subtle double-take to see Zeus's muscular hand placed on her knee, protective in all of it's nature.

Odd. Affection wasn't a growing or upheld trait in their marriage, so why now? Years and eons after the betrayal and hardships he has placed his wife through? Surely something monumental had happened to ensure such an oddity. But that was none of Hades's concern, he swept it under the rug.

"Sister." A formal nod in Hera's direction. "And brother." Equal addression wouldn't hurt, especially on this day. In fact Hades believed himself to do anything for this plan...for Persephone.

His fiancé.

Gods.

"Tell me Hades," Zeus's thundering tone was masked, unentertained as his light blue eyes took in his brother in front of him. "It has been only but five days since your last visit. I am very surprised to see you even standing here after such a letter of urgency. A letter that you couldn't even address the matter at hand to me and my pregnant wife."

It is truly sad that Hades wasn't at all surprised. Unfazed, really. Standing beyond the king and queen with his hands behind his back, ocean eyes concealing every piece of his heart from the public. Now it all made sense to their loving behavior, of the protection in Zeus's eyes although it was something that should of been real from the very beginning. There was a growing fury inside of Hades at the annoyance in Zeus's voice, as if he had every right to even begin this road of confrontation from nothing. Clearly he didn't care of how important his daughter was, or how she was withering away underground, but Hades couldn't tell him that even if he was to bring it to light. What gave him the right - as a deadbeat husband - to judge Hades off the affirmations he was trying to help Persephone climb?

"Ah. It suddenly makes sense now." Hera's eyes met his, and in that action Hades knew her understanding. Depressing. "Regardless, it was a matter that I couldn't even bore on paper. It's too grave in its importance."

"Oh?" Zeus was hooked, but the line and the sinker hadn't settled. "And what may this be?"

Dear Fates please help him _not_ throttle his brother. Already Hades's patience was waning at the asshole feet away. Even more so there was some hint of irritation at his pregnant sister for even helping to birth these rules into existence, for if they didn't ever exist he wouldn't have to be remotely standing here asking for something that didn't need to be asked.

So Hades began his tale of woe. Or more over, the Goddess of Spring's tale, leaving the bits that were too emotionally grounded in her individuality out for safekeeping, weaving details of Demeter's abuse and even Hera's approval at her leaving. Each moment of the explanation was heavy - an affect that was perfectly accompanied by Zeus's grave silence at his daughter's trauma. Hades believed that somewhere, deeply rooted in his brother's being, Zeus cared for Persephone. In all honesty he was in agreement that Zeus had the capability to become closer; warmer to her if he realized his potential and worked towards that self-worth. At least in his silence it confirmed his respect. But mistakes that were really choices made out of sickening intention couldn't be ignored, and as heartbreaking as it was to realize, Zeus's past revealed the aspects that Kronos left behind in his youngest.

Maybe this Zeus, this Zeus that sat on a throne he forgot he was sitting on, holding his wife's hand with engagement across his features for the daughter his enstranged lover had hosted away - was the Zeus Hades and the remainder of the world rooted for.

They were approaching the end of Hades's explanation, bringing him to the urgency of the now. Although the night previous Hades had imagined the thousands of ways he would ask for Persephone's hand in marriage, his words were delayed by the word vomit. Suddenly there was phrases, vocabulary and possibilities floating around the earth in invisibility, and Hades didn't understand how to capture it all sensibly. The pause was one the sibilings had reveled in, Hera and Zeus staring to Hades as if the sands of time were on their side. The pressure on his heart was gathering, imagining the redhead in his bed at home.

But he couldn't act as if this entire event was an action he loathed. In all actuality this was the most benevolent thing that would ever grace immortality, and it was almost impossible to imagine that a man as cruel as his brother has given him the most perfect woman. She wasn't his, no - she was a gift to the world. And it all pieced together. Simply because Hades knew deep in his bones that everything had a reason, and this day today was for her. To push her with a string of events that would bring her to her greatness, for the bloom that was withering away to rise in all of the darkening moonlight. Persephone wasn't a calamity. She was divine, and Zeus would provide him the help she deserves.

"We all know of Demeter's injustices, with Persephone's truth aside." Hera nodded, eyes glued to the ground as Hades spoke. "And I know, we _all_ know...even more than that, that I haven't been the most present brother. And in my reputation lies are easily conjured. But I would never have performed Persephone's abduction for my own benefit. I saw a woman that was struggling. Screaming. You can not look me in the eyes and tell me you couldn't feel it."

"I could feel it." Hera didn't even hesitate to voice it. "It is terrifying how comparable Demeter is to our father now." The room was grave in the essence of her lingering words.

Nobody would deny the truth. It was mind-reeling how Demeter and Kronos's actions were aligned on the parenting spectrum, especially when it was so thick of a subject to bring on. But this family was never one to ignore the elephant in the room, all bluntness be damned. When you place power in the hands of somebody who loved too furiously, too wickedly...the outcome was dangerous.

"Exactly. Which is where my request comes." Zeus's blonde eyebrow rose at his brother. "I want to marry Persephone. With your approval, Zeus."

Surprise was an element that the God of the Skies and the Goddess of Marriage tossed from their vocabularies, a hand flying to cover Hera's pink mouth and the gasp that escaped Zeus's throat failing to faze the God of the Underworld. His calculated eyes remained on the husband and wife, only furthering his point.

"It is the only way. Without you granting me this Demeter could take her away, and if Demeter is to do that then I will not hesitate to rage war."

"You can't just say something like that, brother." Zeus was now on his two feet, thunder crackling outdoors shaking the whole palace. Behind him the window of iridescent glass revealed slim electrifying lines of thunder, illuminating Zeus upon his throne. Always with the dramatics - this family. "War would be too drastic, and surely Demeter's manipulation would bring the battlefield to shreds. She is too cold for her own good."

"Then grant him her hand." Eyes flew to Hera, her head tipped to look at her husband from her seat. When she rose to stand his height, all silence was transferred to her hands. The queen was in control. "You're acting as if this is something to be avoided. This is the most logical option. With Hades offering a solution to keep Demeter from war then it cuts off all possible interferences from our sister to create a war _legally._ We are walking a fine line here. I would rather we handle the situation now when no danger is involved than later where titles could be destroyed."

"Oh but there is danger involved either way." Hades didn't hesitate to nod in his sister's direction in thanks for her input in the midst of his response, giving credit where credit was due. "Hecate feels something powerful inside of your daughter, Zeus. Even more powerful than just springtime madness. We're talking power that matches ours, a power that is comparable to Kronos's."

Crystallized blue orbs widened to saucers, another stab of shock wavering over the father's face. But beneath his expression, in the pits of his eyes...Hades could detect something. Something off that Zeus wasn't willing to utter. _What_ _are you hiding?_ Hades stared into Zeus's face from feet away, eyes burning into his brother's. Rolls of nausea washed over him at the worry.

"Are you saying my daughter is a threat?" His tone was nearly offended.

"I'm saying she's a threat if she is violated. I've gathered through her mother that Persephone's power is rooted deeply with her emotions, meaning if she feels threatened then she isn't able to keep everything in from exploding. Its obvious that if somebody with ill intention is to get to her, then there is no prediction in the world that can tell us what will happen to her." Hades was consumed with some growing force, on the edge of falling down the rabbithole. All he needed was that one magic word. Then the golden endorsement would be made. "I will train her. Alongside Hecate if I must. She needs to find herself, and if this marriage can protect her from that monster, then so be it."

There was absolutely no room for objection in this endeavor. And with the expression of cold, cool collection, his expression revealed that very thing. It was either a yes or it was nothing at all. Hades would never fall to his knees for something he desired, not even to his brother - he would opp for every single other discretion until he won what was rightfully another's person's freedom. And that was where the pain settled, because although something as basic as freedom should of been gifted at birth, Persephone was running out of choices. This was the only way. Hades would fall to his knees. Only for her.

A chill thrummed through the ancient veins of the throne room, a sigh falling from Zeus's exhaled lungs making Hades straighten in his authoritative stance. He held control in his fists as Zeus sauntered down that narrow rug to meet his brother halfway, two brothers standing head-to-head. Ocean eyes met crystal blue, and Hades ignored the low drum of his heart against his chest. This was what made history. With death and thunder's collision.

"I will only ask you one question, and then I will give my answer." Zeus's tone was low, their eyes holding each other's with hard focus. Hera just basked in her glow as she witnessed the event. "Do you love my daughter?"

And for the first time that evening, Hades allowed the confusion to shine through on his features. Mind blanking, all he could see was the colors of puzzlement, trying to build fortresses out of broken towers to regain his strategy. But it was too hard to reconcile, his whole heart speeding from the memory that was Hera and Zeus. What did love - an element of the universe that was so simple but so hard to maintain for the people who were ungrateful enough to obtain it - matter to _him_ _?_ It hadn't even been a week and Hades was positive that he felt more intensely for Persephone than Zeus felt for Hera after an eternity. And with the evidence so solid on his face, with the information too obvious to ignore, Zeus looked to the ground with a smirk on his face and the shake of the head.

"I have made some disgusting choices in my life." The whisper was so low that Hades knew from the look of painful confusion from Hera - feet away already - was confirmation that Zeus was doing his everything to mask this conversation. "I don't need your word to know of your judgement of me. Of this entire family's judgment. I can name dozens of gods that do the same. But I am rebuilding that mist-that choice."

His recovery was several paces fast. Cheating was never a mistake, always a venomous choice that required full effort that had the power to harm. Such things were dangerous. Which pushed the field of endless fazement only deeper, because of all people to admit to the things they've continuously done wrong in immortality, Hades was still having trouble processing that this was _Zeus_ he was speaking to.

"And although I trust you of any person to do right by my daughter, I need your complete honesty. Do. You. Love. Her?"

Hades searched his face until it felt like his eyes would bleed. Shadows tugged and twisted low in his gut, taking away all those racing thoughts until they were the size of pesky buzzing flies, every bone in his body relaxing when he remembered fluttery black eyelashes above chocolate brown orbs. Then the question grew until it was overcoming the mountains of his subconscious, making their definition known when repeating like some broken piece of music that hailed its woes. _Do you_ _love_ _her? Do_ _you_ _love her? Do you love her?_

Yes. Yes in every sense and way. Fates, there was no hesitancy there. But how could he bring something so heavy into the world when it was meant to be said to the one person that it was directed towards? That just entailed too much frosting ruin. This was a test from his brother for the approval of his daughter, and he was wasting seconds. Holding in the confession was already draining, but was this how memory would create history?

"Yes." Without hesitance, without boundaries. "From the very second I saw her."

The half-second of Zeus giving up his facade was akin to a flash, eyes searching Hades's chest as if he could see the weight that had been uplifted. He hoped - or more so prayed - that there would be one day where those words could be told to the right person. But as far as Zeus went, his nod was full of nothing but respect, thankful for the honesty.

"Then it is decided." A hand went to Hades's muscular shoulder, Hades feeling almost lightheaded at this moment. "I hereby declare on the River Styx with my immortality, that I give my approval of the union between my brother Hades, God of the Underworld and my daughter, Persephone, Goddess of Spring, until death do them part." Booming thunder shook the skies as the promise was birthed, victory bubbling in Hades's stomach at the swear.

Now it was a race against time to find the Underworld again, and upon his descent make the Goddess of Spring the Queen of the Underworld. It would seem a cakewalk, but anything could change in the time of now to the future. Which is why Hades was free to stride forward, intent on leaving this ridden place until the hand that captured his shoulder was fast in its fury, turning him around until an Olympian's eyes met the king of death's.

"Do right by her." The whisper was uttered into his ear. "Do all the things I should have done."

Hades didn't stop his eyes from finding Hera this time, knowing that in ancient love, nothing made sense.

**~**

Persephone thought herself to understand after this past week what torture seriously felt like. Of how pain could bring you to thoughts of darkness that you never imagined in your entire lifetime to be thinking, and of how your body suddenly felt unbearable. But this...this sudden event of going through this different kind of pain was so hurtful that her nap was completely disrupted. Being alone in a realm without the one person she felt she could actually confine in was so much on her heart. From the very moment Hades approached her that morning about his descent was the part in time she started to feel that growing ache in her stomach, ripples of nausea at the thought of him never coming back to her impossible to ignore but something she would never admit to the world beyond.

_"I'll be_ _back_ _by_ _the end of_ _the_ _day_ _. Hecate and Thanatos are at_ _your_ _disposal."_ She could still remember in detail how the cold of the room seeped into her bones, jolting her body to force tears to gather in her eyes. Gods she was still so sick of crying. But these reactions...they were second nature to her now. Despite believing she was in control, regardless of her mood in the moment, her own emotions were her very betrayal.

_"Promise me?"_ Persephone had to hold back from cringing into the velvet pillow of Hades's bed at the exact remembrance of her tone: of how her vocal cords were breaking, and the world was falling into itself yet Hades did everything in his power to bring her assurance. Pathetic. She felt so utterly pathetic.

**_"I promise."_ **

Yet Persephone still basked in his tone, seeking comfort in the softness that filled the void of his beautiful voice. She remembered wanting to grab his hand - not because there was any intimacy that took their bodies - but because she wanted it with such a burn that Persephone was afraid she would conquer Helios. A strange relationship she was in indeed. If relationship (even in her mind the word was so foreign) was even the correct terminology to throw on this transaction.

Persephone sighed out of rueful annoyance towards herself, setting up in the four-poster bed to aggressively run her hands though her curls. Was her marriage destined to be complicated? Would there ever be a source of normality which would substitute her uncontrollable powers that interrupted every fibre of her emotions? Because normal marriages were full of laughter and affection, intimacy that burned and a destiny that twinned to a fairy tale. Or maybe Persephone was only assuming that because of her previous innocence.

She would never be enough for Hades. Or the Underworld. Or anybody at all. This was the worst decision Hades could ever of made...this marriage is doomed and she was the reason.

Persephone felt as if she was a roaring sea of complications, raging from the inside out. The lump was beginning to form again in the back of her throat and Persephone found the duvet, balling the fabric in her hands until her knuckles went white. Tremors overtook her entire being. She needed to get a grip on the tears. Put an end to the pitless sorrow.

Only the tears found her eyes, swimming down her flawless cheeks. There wouldn't be an end. There would only be this awful start, her story never reaching the climax she deserved or the ending she wished to find. There was only the beginning. A tragedy. Persephone couldn't recall a time where she felt the sunshine in her soul...she could only find thunder clouds and disgusting rain. In all honestly it was useless to cry when her eyes were constantly dry to the feeling of blood, but her body screamed out to be soothed. Otherwise she would be choking on the words she was dying to say.

Persephone found the wisps of shadows in her heart, tugging on the enstranged thing as if it was her lifeline. **_I'm_** ** _still here,_** ** _I'm_** ** _still here,_** ** _I'm_** ** _still_** ** _here._** She still didn't possess any knowledge regarding the oddity, but it wasn't as if it was her desire to learn now when she was in the middle of this breakdown. She could only describe the internal feeling as light wisps floating from her chest sometimes radiating to her stomach, the interesting little thing only falling to her heart when something was too intense to process. Like her emotions. Like the now.

She held on to that lifeline internally as the sobs escaped her mouth and her body, snot falling from her nose as she held in the urge to scream. What would screaming do to help her? How would that possibly help contain anything at all? But Gods, the roaring in her ears was getting louder, and she wanted to wreck her rage on something, _anything_ _._

Her hand lifting was against her will, Persephone's jaw falling open as she grunted to keep her hand down. Resisting was so painful. Why were the right efforts always the hardest? She wanted to unleash that darkness, but wielding it unmorally was everything that terrified her. She needed Hades. She _needed_ him.

Right when the tremors were about to unleash destruction upon the House of Hades, all sense was robbed from the goddess when something akin to the texture of butterflies meeting the shadows of her heart intermingled, breath being stolen from her as Persephone's heart drummed to a beat of electrifying power. She had memorized the voice that filled her mind, his voice as smooth as velvet but as deep as Tarturus as it played. All the tears were put on pause, the tremors gradually finding their demise.

**_And_** ** _I'm_** ** _here._** Hades. The God of the Underworld was filling her head. Questions couldn't even find their place in her head because all she could focus on was him. **_I feel_** ** _you_** ** _._** Emphasis was placed on the sentence as shadow met shadow in some beautiful collision. **_Breathe_** ** _._** ** _I'm_** ** _here._**

Not in person, not in space, but _here._ In her heart. She couldn't feel the shocks of the panic attack any longer, her pants acute to her regular breathing. Regardless her eyes were still wider than saucers and Persephone was still ultimately convinced that she was possibly imagining things to the point of hallucination. Because _that_ didn't just happen...hearing voices in her head wasn't normal. And hearing his voice specifically? Something was happening to her, and although she should probably be rocketing for common sense now, she only craved his voice more.

"Hades?" This time she said it for the entire universe to hear. "Hades?" Nothing. Even the essence of his shadows were gone, leaving nothing in her husband-to-be's wake.

A pair of knuckles drumming on the door brought a new panic, Persephone rising from the bed with such swiftness that she was confused with herself. Adjusting her curls and rubbing her cheeks to rid of the tear stains, Persephone projected her voice the absolute best she could to avoid any rocky edges.

"Come in!" The door opened to reveal the man she had not seen since the day previous, shadows of light wisps gathering around his slender torso as he stepped into Hades's room with calm confidence. Persephone fished her memory until she found the right catch. Ah, yes. This was Thanatos. The man who was fighting with Hecate.

"Oh thank the Fates you are awake, if you were asleep I regret to inform you I would of busted through the door against the she-demon's will." Thanatos bowed towards her either way, a smile gracing his lips as if what he just said was normal. Persephone allowed the steady rise of her red eyebrow to show.

"The she-demon being your wife, right?" Thanatos's features were the definition of confused. Persephone blanked in reaction.

"I have a wife?" Now they were both lost. And then it hit her like a ton of bricks at the stupidity of her assumption, linking two people together when they didn't even need to be linked. Even worse was the understanding registering on Thanatos face, a smirk blooming amongst the dead confusion.

"Oh my Gods I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have just-" Her cheeks were already aflame when he cut her off with an eruption of laughter.

"No, no, I'm just dying at the fact that you imagined that me, _and her-"_ More laughter, so much that Thanatos was doubling over himself. "Oh my Gods you are so good. And the look on your face! Your cheeks are redder than your hair." He was now sniffling back tears, olive skin finding its color again.

Except Persephone found an opening in his reaction, lips twisting at the God of Death. "You know Thanatos, blushing an alarming color isn't my only talent. I'm also very smart, and from memory I was told that when a man likes a woman he is very prone to seeking new measures of annoying her to gain her attention."

The entire room went quiet, and Thanatos was striken to shocking surprise with the drop of his sharp jaw at the sudden showcase of personality from Persephone. The goddess just stood with the look of victory on her face, forearms crossed over her chest as she processed his response. Very interesting figure he was, indeed. Persephone could envision some powerful duology the pair would make if they found companionship.

"Ah, I see what you are doing here." Thanatos sniggered at the flicker of her eyebrow. "You are doing what my ex-therapist did to make me unwillingly admit my deep, dark secrets!" Persephone couldn't contain the chuckle that she released. She could feel her serotonin levels rising just from their conversation.

"And I assume that you fired her because you weren't comfortable with reverse psychology?"

"Nope, I only made up the scenario to make you laugh."

Persephone faltered, the look on her face yet again allowing a small space for Thanatos's chuckle to grace the silence of the room. Persephone couldn't find it inside of her to be tossled by his lie, simply because her world became so much more brighter when the goofball conversed with her. After her episode only minutes ago and the life-changing event she still suspected that she hallucinated, the tiny engagement of their talk was obviously deserved.

"You should freshen up, Mrs. Hades. Our future hubby will be home for lunch any second now." His walk to the door was fast-paced, a shuffle of long legs. Persephone sped over the line in her head to find the oddity that made the entire sentence off.

"Did you just say _our?"_

"Have a wonderful bath my future queen, bye-bye!" Laughter filled the room to finally create the most passable silence.

Still, the darkness lingered.

**~**

Persephone's stomach was a cluster of nerves. Her hands were shaking as she adjusted the pearl earrings she interlooped through her pierced earlobes, the reflection in the mirror revealing the most stunning young woman. Makeup was more iridescent today to compliment the tight black gown that swallowed her hips, Persephone's hair done by Hecate in simple red curls that were pinned by pearls. Nobody would ever be able to guess the breakdown she had an hour ago.

"You look stressed." Hecate spoke from the bed behind her, monitoring all of her movements. Persephone still couldn't decide if she loved or hated it.

Turning to face her, Persephone made no effort to mask the emotion. In need to distract herself, Persephone made a show of grabbing elegant black pumps from Hecate's right, settling upon the bed to do the straps with trembling hands.

"I feel really stressed." Hecate's hazel eyes found the action, eyes almost shallow if their pity as she held the girl struggling to even hold the heel with her shaking figures.

She could do this. She could finally leave the comfort of this room. She had done it yesterday, Persephone could do it again. Still the rise and fall of her lungs were forced, some pressure on them that made breathing uncomfortable. The anxiety in her throat was making it harder to ignore the growing nausea in her gut.

"Persephone." Whenever the young woman didn't look up from the shoes, Hecate took the pump in her own hands, finally gaining the redhead's attention. Her uneven breathing was becoming even more noticeable now. "Breathe. In and out. With me, now."

It was a struggle to hold Persephone's orbs, solidly because her eyes were rampid in their race. Anxiety made the mind feel attacked, therefore running or even breaking one's focus themselves was sometimes the only option on the mind of the victim. But once Hecate held her chocolate eyes, she allowed her hand to find Persephone's trembling one, the world around them being put to rest. Hecate would never use a soothing spell on the person who needed to fight their own battles, because that was blatant ignorance to the issue at hand.

"Inhale." The witch initiated the breath, putting on a show of breathing deeply in. "Exhale." This time, Persephone followed.

Hecate led Persephone through the exercises until her hands were frozen out of comfort, not letting go of her hand until she was sure of the goddess's stability. Only when the room was deadly silent was when Hecate let go, speaking to clear the air of how close the young woman had come to an explosion.

"I've had anxiety through my trauma as well." Persephone's eyes were stuck on the crown occupying the table across from them. "Something I do on the rare occasions I feel I am being pushed over the edge in public or even by myself is pressing on the pressure points of my hand. Like this."

Persephone's eyes landed on Hecate's caramel hands, one set of fingers pressing hard into spots of her palms, her fingers and even her wrist. It intrigued the woman how this could possibly help, but regardless opted to ask the thoughts occupying her head.

"Does it stop the panic attacks? And do you really do this in public?"

"Sometimes. If I clear my head enough to combine it with this mechanism, it distracts me. It's quiet enough and sometimes so hidden that doing it in public is simple." Hm. Persephone stashed this suggestion away in her head, falling back into the quiet until she realized just how far Hecate was willing to go to help her.

"Thank you." She offered to the smiling goddess, knowing that it was just enough for this moment.

She could see this friendship. Could envision being Queen of the Underworld with Hecate by her side, making her the right hand she always deserved just as Thanatos was Hades's. This life - this galaxy of pure darkness - was getting easier and easier to imagine as time bore on.

Except Persephone was just tip-toeing that fine line of deciding if she either loathed it or loved it, the world falling from it's axis.

The moment was severed whenever Persephone finally noticed the figure leaning against the open door at the corner of her eye, her heart stopping when she saw Hades. Shock rippled through her when she questioned just how long he had been standing there with his muscular arms crossed over a burly chest, the smirk on his face every piece of pleased. Hecate sighed exasperatingly with the face-palm of the century.

His ocean blue met her figure, wondering her body with a respectful upsweep. Persephone would absolutely be lying if she said she didn't at all feel her cheeks flushing, heat rushing to her body as the cold that was the atmosphere turned to molten lava. He was in every way the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Today he wore a robe of dark velveted black, the robe slivered to reveal muscles tightened by a deep emerald dress shirt, tucked into black trousers. The ebony of his short locks caught the lamplight. It was mind-boggling how she had earned the attention of such a figure of power and beauty.

"Well look at you, Hecate. May I have a moment with my fiance?" The tug of Persephone's lips flying upwards was an aspect that was unconcealable.

"Please, you are literally asking _me_ to enter _your_ room? Say less, Hades." Persephone chuckled when Hecate finally left the room, Hades sighing with the click of the closed door. The noise matched one of a tired father, responding to his rebellious teenagers.

"And that," He motioned to where Hecate was previously sitting with one hand. "Is why my little hellions will never get an annual paycheck."

"She's right you know." Persephone objected with a flickered eyebrow. "You should seriously stop being a push-over and letting other people occupy your room."

The drop of his jaw made her feel powerful, the element of surprise on her side. Persephone allowed the gorgeous half-smile to rise. Hades sniggered when leaning against his midnight dresser, a lazy hand holding his chin to look at her with full attention.

"Oh what was that, my dear?" An attractive uplift of his lips. "Did I hear the little flower princess finally slipping from her submissiveness?"

Persephone rose to her feet, and she swore that the red in her hair gleamed only brighter. If he wanted to play this game, she could play it infinitely better. In fact it felt so wonderful to give in to that distraction.

"Well yes I did, _my Lord._ " There was a flash of something unidentifiable across his features, but Hades's face still returned to that painfully handsome smirk. "Call me out for only speaking the truth."

"Interesting of you to say now that you're in my head all the time."

The facade was over in a blink at the reminder, Persephone's determined expression traded for utter confusion at remembrance of the event previously. Her body found the bed again, looking from Hades in order to fall on the bed upright.

"So I wasn't hallucinating it?" Persephone's tone was so low it was almost a whisper, but Hades heard it loud and clear. She sounded scared, puzzled...but also falling deeper down the hole she was trying so desperately to climb from.

The God of the Underworld's expression fell as he moved to crouch in front of her, limbs bending until his large body was in front of her, his hands finding her chin to move her eyes to stare into his. The moment was intense, because suddenly the world had vanished and all that remained was them. The feel of her skin against hers was electrifying, and only then did Hades realize just how close their faces were to one another's. Her breath was shallow, lips parted to dire temptation. He tried to look past it to feel this moment, to revel in it.

"Does the thought repulse you?" Her heart fell at his tone, the cold whisper igniting her skin. "Of me being a piece of you? Even if we can't explain it?"

Now her heart was speeding. Because she feared saying the wrong thing, or completely saying the right thing only too fast and he wouldn't understand it because it crossed him the wrong way. But she didn't care if she was crossing the bridges that weren't meant to be crossed now, because with the look of his face coupled with being so close to him...it made her want to fix all the problems and all the threats that so much as came too close to him.

"No." Her hand found his, the exact one that was on her cheek. Fingers massaged the skin there. She was going to burn. Burn on fire just from touching him. "If anything I'm just confused as to how I have the King of the Underworld on his knees for me now."

Gods the grin that graced his features were holy. She wanted to drown in his eyes and tell the world to pause. Because that was how powerful she felt with him, how comfortable everything was.

**"Well,** **only** **a king can bow to the queen."**

Persephone faltered, heart beating against her chest at the revelation. Hades was nodding before she could even capture her words.

"He said yes?"

"Yes, he said yes." Persephone's smile was contagious, the universe finally full of sunshine and rainbows again.. Even if this moment would last seconds, she could deal with the pain later.

"That's...that's-" Where was her vocabulary when she needed it?

"Incredible? Refreshing? Indescribable?" Hades voiced when curiously grabbing the black pump from the ground next to him, holding Persephone's ankles in his hands gently to slide on the shoe. His fingers were cold against her skin, burning down pieces of her she didn't know existed. It took every fibre of her to not react. "Yes I know, what woman wouldn't want to be married to me?"

Persephone rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder, watching as his hands worked the delicate straps of the heel. This man would be her husband. Wild. Absolutely wild.

"What happens now?" Hades listened intently when strapping the other heel to her foot, running a hand through his ebony hair to face her once he was finished. He remained on his two knees, only this time placing his hands on his knees. They both seemed to ignore the small detail, too engaged in the conversation to care.

"We get married firstly, and then Hecate will assist me with your coronation and prepare you for being Queen of the Underworld. With me running one-thirds of the earth, I fully intend to treat you as my equal. Therefore there is work for both of us to tend to." Persephone was perfectly fine with that. In fact, work would give her a perfectly reasonable distraction from the hell that was in her head. "I'll walk you through the Underworld tomorrow as Thanatos and Hecate prepare for the wedding. I want you to feel comfortable here. You don't have to make it home, but I still want to be the person to convince you."

She was thankful for him not pressuring her, opting for the best route for the both of them. Yes, they were doing everything backwards, but at least they weren't ruining it.

"And what of this..." She thought around how to even shape what they had into words, the push and pull of the power between them so hard to even speak of. "Power between us? What will shape from this?"

"Oh, I fully intend to address this with Hecate. That will tie into your training." Hades's fingers were massaging her dressed knees. "We'll take everything slow. Comfortably, that is."

There were a million possibilities of what he meant by going slow. Diplomacy was already covered, as was the part of her training, but Persephone didn't possess the confidence to address the possibility of a them. Of an item. They would be husband and wife and they had yet to sleep in the same bed, yet to even touch lips or yet to even...well do whatever couples in love did.

But this marriage was an arrangement. If love was to blossom from such a thing then so be it, because the swelling in Persephone's heart when she so much as looked at him was impossible to ignore. Placing her heart in the hands of another after the heartbreak of her mother was too much on her soul right now...she could hardly bare it. The reminder caused a rift in the moment.

"Who knew the God of the Underworld was so strategic?" She accepted his outstretched hand to get her off the bed, politely looping her arm through his awaiting arm swiftly.

"There are many things you don't know about me." And with that expression on his face, as daring as it was, truly tempted her to fall into the chase.

Little did he know she already has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how are we feeling? Are you screaming yet?
> 
> Needless to say after almost 60,000 words that last scene was very deserved towards you guys. Hades and Persephone's fluff and flirty scenes are my absolute favorite to write. But what can I say? This is a slow burn after all ;)
> 
> I also wanted to honor Hecate's suggestion for that coping mechanism - because believe it or not - that is one of the only mechanisms that puts my anxiety at bay. Feel free to practice it if you ever feel cornered or like you're drifting off the edge.
> 
> And I will see you guys later this week! Prepare for our visit of all the places in the Underworld!
> 
> ~ Autumn


	12. ten : where all the dead things go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One word: foreshadowing. Keep your heads up high and your wits even higher.
> 
> ~Autumn.

**FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN HER** long, long immortality, the great Goddess of Wisdom felt...confused. Something was terribly wrong, and Athena could feel it in her ancient bones.

But her visionary of the city named exactly after her confirmed all of her suspicions, the great olive tree she won in a battle to take Athens from Poseidon littered with crippling leaves of the deepest browns, yellows and oranges. Athena even spotted a speckle of purple falling from the branch like a far cry for help. Heart pumping, she tried to maintain her lowkey cover as she took in her beautiful city - now falling to shambles because of something that was absolutely uncontrollable to her people; the plummeting temperature that brought a relentless chill to hang over the atmosphere in all of it's icy fury.

Yes. Everything was wrong now and the sense of this once warm golden planet was coming to an end. And as Athens' goddess, answers were being screamed from her many temples because the woman with an answer always seemed to have one - only in this situation she did not. Embarrassment bloomed in her cheeks, a harsh scarlet fury that burned from her cheeks all the way to her long neck. All that she held morally be damned, because this was the first time the deity was underwater. In fact, she was sunken so deep into the wave pools that her immortal breath threatened to give out.

Golden hair flashing Helios in the skies, the mighty footsteps behind her signaled another golden deity - in fact the one that she loathed the most. Except right now Athena didn't possess the energy to react to the Sea God, the gears in her head churning until bolts collided with bolts. She could taste the answer, could feel it deeper than anything she has ever believed - but it was so far away that right now the prescense looming over her was causing the most annoying distraction.

"My sea creatures are dying." Athena could hear the fallen passion in her uncle's voice. "The oceans are getting colder by the minute. They aren't able to travel fast enough."

She wouldn't arise some spiteful comment now, because in times of death she would yearn for the translator. Poseidon was everything that she hated in this world. Selfish, arrogant and too lustful for his good - but once marrying Amphitrite she noticed he had put some of his unruly behavior on hold. Except now they were in the same boat: two Olympians losing the lives of the people they loved, only too desperate to find an answer.

"And the crops here are wilting. If this continues than the outcome could be catastrophic." Anybody could guess the last mention. "Has Rhode reported any casualties?"

Despite Athena finding the parentage of the Goddess Rhode unpleasant, their daughter was one of the most phenomenal young women Athena has ever crossed in her lifetime. At only seventeen years old Rhode has embarked on a journey of becoming queen of an entire island, entire stature ultimately leading to the steady foundation of her name amongst the gods. It wasn't because of Poseidon or Aphrodite that this stature lived on, instead because of hard work.

"Five deaths amongst her people and twenty sea creature saw their demise from the rising temperatures. In only a week." Athena's leaf-green eyes found Poseidon's sky blue. Such disbelief in those eyes. He leaned against the olive tree to look towards the horizon. "We need to call a meeting with Zeus. This is affecting all parts of the earth."

"Amazing job of calling off the obvious." The smirk that cracked upon her thin lips was nothing short of unentertaining to the God of the Sea.

"And to believe we were doing so well together for what? About three minutes?" A bulky hand came up to spark a touch at a reachable orange leaf, his eyebrows coming closer and closer together at the foreign produce of Mother Nature. Even his reaction mirrored hers, the disbelief intermingling with the frustration to create unfortunate anger. Athena was never one to listen to her heart, but she understood deep down any sensible person would be afraid of these times, and despite her hatred with the majority of the gods, she knew that her family was digging for a cure that wouldn't be found.

"Regardless, uncle," She finally broke away from the ground, standing to his height. "That is a new record for either of us."

Athena's enhanced vision landed on the black speck struggling on a deteriorating yellow leaf, the black veins fighting for its color gruesome in the eyes of a goddess who fell in love with the world's colors. A spider. An intriguing fixation in the chill of the slipping temperatures. The mighty war goddess Athena feared absolutely nothing, but there was something so nauseating about the curious little creature. Of how death could walk on eight nimble legs.

Poseidon's roll of eyes brought Athena to look in the direction of Athens, a crowd of even heavier dressed peoples crowding around what seemed to be an excitable event. Athena's perfect eyebrow rose, feet shuffling forward only barely to squint in the crowd's direction. With her vision trained exactly on the sliver of exposure through bodies, she could of sworn she saw a young woman hunched over a spinning wheel, intricate fingers falling at the speed of light to weave the most beautiful tapestry of reds, golds, oranges and yellows. Poseidon himself was engulfed with the curiosity that even Athena possessed, his demeanor instantly changing at the squint of Athena's features.

On her face was that heavy focus so many wished to uphold, brows crinkling as footsteps paced her closer to the weaver finishing the piece with the snap of glorious material in the chill. The crowd hollered at the weaver's masterpiece, youthful eyes of the woman proud with her work. Though the woman's body appeared to be of the youngest descent, her auburn hair of watercolor golds and dark reds were burned through with grey, pinned to her head in messiness akined to the rush of a worker. Those eyes were the most pitless black, as if even the pupil got lost in the black waters. Helios himself couldn't even bring out the color.

Then those eyes turned to Athena, and Athena deadpanned to her spot in the city that belonged to her, the breeze of this new world ruffling hairs into the wind. The weaver was screaming for dominance, battling a goddess in all of her righteous fury. But this battle wasn't even plausible, Athena growing several sizes mentally as she held her gaze head on. The call between them was tethered in anger, like the steel of a new sword forged in angry fire. Those eyes drifted away with a snap.

"Do you feel that?" The goddess's eyes stayed on the woman, especially glued to the way her nimble finger moved against the newly-birthed tapestry with furiosity akin the limbs of arachnids.

"The bad energy?" Poseidon questioned from behind her. "Oh, I can feel it."

Something like eight legs scurried down the length of Athena's spine, the speed of her heart only contributing to the warning fire that this would be the week of a lifetime.

A week for mythology.

Because there was a spider among them, and the chill of the new autumn wasn't the only evil invading these lands.

**~**

"As odd as it sounds, I don't feel very...queen-ley yet." The Goddess of Spring spoke into the empty space of the grand hallway to her fiance, his body facing hers as she adjusted the heavy bejeweled cape around her shoulders.

Persephone couldn't describe the comfort she felt in the leather pants she was wearing, retiring her extravagant finery for the day one of the best decisions she's ever made for herself in a long while. But furthering her comfort was Hades's approval of her attire - the way his eyes found her figure making her feel powerful. Although she didn't need his approval, the way he supported her made the situation all the much better.

"To be fair time is going by a bit fast. You've only been here for a week and we're already planning a wedding." Persephone turned to him with a smirk. Hades leaned against the walls with a bulky shoulder, his arms interlaced over each other's as he leaned ever closer to her. Those ocean eyes were full of mischief, the shadows surrounding them combined with the devilish glint in his eyes burning down the world. "You'd be amazed by what we can do in a month."

Then the flame returned to her veins, that roaring in her ears contained but also bringing lava to melt her heart. His lips were parted in the most convincing position, daring her to step forward and experience their ruin. Persephone allowed herself the graces of studying the thin architecture, amazed by how something as mundane - even if they were everything far from the world - as lips were so steller. He was close to her. Not too close, like their encounter where he was holding her weeks previously, but still so _heartbreakingly_ close.

His eyes were a storm driving the ultimate fire of her anatomy, and she wondered how in all the worlds and stars and galaxies of this universe a person could evoke this level of reaction. She stared into the pools of blue. The smirk aligning his lips promised her that Persephone could take all that she desired with a single touch, and she was in complete understanding of it all. In fact simply knowing that detail crept the mark of her trembling fingers to draw closer to the black stubble running across his jaw, her throat containing a ghost of a breath.

Except her finger froze in mid-air as realization hit her like a ton of bricks, the interaction faltering. Perhaps she was becoming too daring, or maybe she was just allowing herself too much she couldn't have, but guilt offsetted in Persephone's head in clarity. In result she allowed her hand to gently pat his jaw, and the look of tossing confusion she recieved only made the atmosphere comical.

"Like growing a beard! There's plenty of time in the month for that, right?"

A dazzling grin seceded their interaction, Persephone turning around from her fiance in a flash of red-gold hair that flew towards the exit of the corridor. All that remained was the most puzzled Hades, his mouth agape in the most twisting confusion. He stared at the goddess from across the room, feet still rooted to the ground in an attempt to piece together the situation. Except he gathered his wits and walked towards her, allowing all of the entitlement to gload into his voice. Footsteps echoed.

"For your information, I would look terrible with a beard." Imagery of his youngest brother hit him all at a time. Maybe one day he'd explain the never ending mania of the _forbidden_ _beard_ to her.

"My point still stands." A red eyebrow rose with her statement, her half-smile possessing every bit of sass.

"As does mine." He wasn't going to back down, and the way that they both stared at each other in the eyes stubbornly was too comical to break.

Before he understood it neither of them were blinking in the last minute, the entirety of the hall growing silent. What of this...game? Why was it becoming so much more intense? He wasn't sure, but what he was sure of was that his eyeballs were flickering, dying to move. Even his mouth was growing dry. Except he was searching for that satisfaction, and refused to remotely let go of winning for a single second. All Hades was left with was analyzing the molten brown of Persephone's eyes, the withholding of her contact striking him even deeper in his soul than he ever imagined.

Right when his eyes burned with the fury to blink, Persephone's beautiful eyelashes curled and unfurled twinned to a butterfly's, the blink announcing his utmost victory.

"Ha!" Joy exploded around him as he pointed in her face.

The sassy roll of her brown eyes coupled with the exasperating sigh escaping her throat triggered his laughter, life suddenly appearing so much lighter now that she was in it.

Only he would never admit it, even if it took the intensity of one thousand games of staring to secede his thoughts into history forever.

**~**

Half an hour later after the sands of time brought them to reality, Persephone was quivering with curiosity at the newfound landscape engulfing her senses. Hades had offset their journey by bringing them North of his palace, to one of the most dusted terrains she had ever seen in her entire existence. They were feet away from the mighty River Styx, the river adjoined with several other major bodies of water that created the Underworld. Persephone didn't completely understand the entirety of the geography of the Underworld - only the passages she snuck from the books Demeter desperately tried and failed to hide from her - but she was so fortunate for this overview that she was practically bouncing with excitement.

Because Hades wanted to keep this tour as insightful as possible, he kept shadow-traveling off the table to make the walk over to the edge of the River Styx, the candlelight Hades projected around them the only accessor she had to her sight. But she was stricken with surprise to learn that not all of the Underworld was projected in darkness - an objection to all the rumors. In fact the high skies of the underground were alit with hues of intermixed of solid neon greens, violets and purples so dark they nearly faded into the darkness, and beautiful indigo blues. The ground she walked on was hard, at some points rocky yet also soiled with traces of dead dirt that concealed secrets. Their walk here was appointed with dark caves, hovering thickets and leave-less trees.

While others would call something so dead bland and horrific, Persephone could scout the beauty that so many would easily ignore. She found the phenomenon of the multi-colored "skies" stunning. It had only been a mere thirty minutes and every tiny detail was accompanied by questions she made no effort to ignore.

"The River Styx is obviously the most popular amass of water connected to the Underworld. It is so vast that it is connected to Archeron (the river of woe) and points to a multitude of directions in the Underworld." As Hades spoke, Persephone looked in the distance to see that a rickety boat sat at the corner of the River Styx, a tall figure hidden by some heavy black robe standing within it arising more questions. She felt no radiation of danger in the air. "There are three major parts of the Underworld: the Asphodel Fields, the Elysian Fields and of course, Tarturus."

A shiver richocheted through her body at the mention of the deepest, darkest piece of this world. Even Persephone knew the dangers that Tarturus harbored. The monsters down below so vile that could swallow you whole.

"Today we'll do an overview of the Fields and some bodies of water. Ask as many questions as you see fit." Hades stopped talking to lower the light projection. "Firstly let me show you my ferryman."

They finally approached the hooded figure, Persephone's vision bringing blank terror to fuel her veins at the creeping dense white finger bones wrapped around the lamp the figure was holding. The breath caught in her throat was absolutely forgotten, the world coming to its axis as she dared to look deeper under the hood, focusing on the glowing, pitless black eyes that belonged to the the creature. When the hood fell back to reveal the face of this figure, Persephone had to swallow back her guilt at the features she drank. She could only describe his face as both life and death, cut in half. The left side of the ferryman's face was beautiful, twinkling with the most flawless pale skin. That black eye was slender, half the hair on his skull a deep black that reminded her highly of another. Then when she reached the decay, nothing made sense. Solid, skeletal bone. A human skull accompanied by a lifeful pitless black eye - staring straight at her.

Persephone felt no guilt when her fingers flickerd against Hades's own, their eyes meeting for half a second as Hades recognized that striken fear. Comfort bloomed in her heart as his free hand enveloped her own.

_Feel no fear, he is completely harmless._ Hades's booming voice filled her head, and Persephone took a deep breath to regain her posture. Even beside him she still wasn't used to...whatever was between them.

"Goddess Persephone, I introduce you to the first of Erebus and Nyx's children, my ferryman of the Underworld: Charon." Charon trained his eyes boredly on the young woman, nodding at her in a mannerism that was impossible to ignore. Immediately she recalled why the first half of his face was so familiar.

"You're Thanatos's brother, aren't you?" It was so excitable that Hades smirked from behind her.

"Unfortunately, my lady." That fleshed-skeletal face remained indifferent, his nod confirming her question.

"You'll quickly notice that Charon is the more tolerable sibiling." Persephone shook her head with a smile, leaning into Hades as he whispered his comment, "But let's not tell Thanatos that."

Persephone was also quickly noticing the pattern that making fun of Thanatos was the Underworld's favorite hobby, but with good regards, of course. Hades only let go of her hand whenever they were both seated in the long ferry, a paddle being magically conjured from the lamp in Charon's skeletal hand to fly into the water. Except...the water didn't truly look like _water._

Training her immortal vision to get an even deeper look into the shadowy black waters, Persephone saw a multitude of nauseating but also intriguing substances and items. One of the first things she noticed - purely because of how many there were - was human remains. Bones. It brought bile to rise in her throat. Only she looked beyond the bones and saw broken clockwork, hideous dolls, pieces of combusted piano, shattered armor and other faltering things that were randomized to make absolutely no sense.

"The River Styx is one of the most ancient entities of the Underworld." Only when Hades's voice filled the air did Persephone realize they were scurrying across the waters and leaving the land of the House of Hades behind. Her eyes found Hades's body, his eyes closed and body relaxed as if this was normal. "The bones represent the bodies of soldiers who dared to try and swim the waters, while some are actual remains who put their lives on the line with the river and died because of it. That is why swearing on the River Styx is so literal. It's fatal if you don't bet correctly."

Oh how very lovely. Just wonderful. In fact the limited amount of food in her stomach just seethed with the fact.

"Why is the water...shadowy?" Why did she even _speak?_

"Running with the theme of death, the shadows are actually the souls of the humans who betted on the River...and lost." Persephone was utterly confused at how he said such things so easily. "All the items within it, as odd as they are, is responsible from the magic of mortal's dreams and suffering. The River Styx is so powerful as to personify those things when it takes a soul."

His eyes were still closed, body hunched over like he was on the verge of a nap. Persephone's hands grasped the wooded edges of the ferry as she stared at her husband-to-be, mouth agape.

"You can't be serious." Hades's eyes opened in mischief to withhold hers.

"Would the man who beat you at a staring contest lie to you?" The words were accompanied by the wink of his eyes.

"Is that what we're calling it? _A_ _staring_ _contest?"_ Her voice was alit with entertainment. Leave it to the God of the Underworld to joke in the times of skating across the waters of death.

"Would you prefer I call it _Hades beats Persephone: the Game_?" She sniggered when leaning back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest to play with her newly manicured nails.

"Now you're just-" Except she never got the chance to finish her sentence, because Charon's deep voice filtered through the air to alert Hades of his question.

"Master, would you prefer for me to drop you off at the River Archeron or shall we head for the Asphodel Fields?" Hades's features tinkered in question, only to fly to Persephone then back to Charon's hooded backside.

"How about we allow Persephone to choose." Her eyebrow arose, the weight of making the decision foreign. His eyes remained to her in question, the silence that followed was Charon waiting for a question.

She opened her mouth but faltered, remembering Hades's request to ask away if any questions were to arise.

"Charon?" She practically whispered the word, shaking at the thought of finally deciding something for herself. She wasn't a child anymore, and clearly she wasn't used to the responsibility.

"My lady?"

"What exactly is major about the River Archeron? What role does it play for the Underworld?" Fair enough. This would push her to decide. If this was to also be her domain, she wanted to understand every last working part.

"The River Archeron is adjoined to the entrance of the Underworld. The beach there is ridden with newly dead souls waiting to be carried to one of their three destinations. That is where I come in. Each passenger should carry one coin with them. This coin is called an obol, and presents them with the justification to cross. Only when I collect the obol and cross out their name on the list can I take them to their destination: Judgement to the House of Hades." Each element of this explanation was feeding her curiosity, Persephone soaking in the information like a starving man.

"Cerberus also guards the gates of the entrance. No roaming demigod can get in." Hades added, Persephone being exposed to the name. Hades read that question on her forehead and answered it then. "My dog."

Persephone absolutely could not contain the smile that possessed her features. Because it was too much, too _new_ and much too exciting. "You have a dog?"

The God of the Underworld had a dog. This was _too_ _good_ _._

"What does this look like? Of course I have a dog." Persephone's head fell back as she cackled. "He is a very mighty, _manly_ dog." As if that justified everything.

"I want to meet the dog." Well that settled everything. And the smirk on Hades's features made this moment all the much greater.

"You heard the woman, to the Gates of Hell we go." With the God of the Underworld's instruction, the ferryman sailed the ferry ever faster towards their destination.

**~**

She could feel the sorrow before she could hear it at all. Persephone's immortal ears were drowned out with a diversity of screaming voices, Charon seeing them off the beach of Lake Archeron with a promise to be back after delivering the newest batch of souls. Except Persephone couldn't care right now, because her senses were overwhelmed by the absolute torture of hollering screams and newfound dead souls roaming across the sands of the beach. Her eyes were frantic as she beheld the wondering bodies, all seeming very much alive although they were so, so dead. Persephone was quick to notice that few bodies roamed towards the ferry with shallow acceptance, as if this new life - _afterlife -_ was acceptable. The obols in grasped between their fingers were larger than she expected, the world defined by sorrow.

Sorrow that triggered her own. Sorrow that was so full of woe that the poor woman had to swallow back the lump arising in her throat. She understood that pain. Off of just the last couple of days their struggle to fight towards something that was out of their control reminding her terribly...of herself.

Hades - right off the get-go of arriving - was automatic in his actions to grab Persephone's arms, leaning into the back of her body with haste to announce what should be done.

"These souls are particularly tossled." Persephone only nodded to his words, trying to focus on his voice and the warmth of his fingers. They were moving forward before she could even absorb it. "Look none in their eyes. Keep walking with me."

So they did. As impossible as it was to ignore the women desperately trying to grab Persephone's attention, or the young boy who even took hold of Persephone's pants (that boy was specifically impactful, because it was at this second Persephone realized that she was guarded from death when so many didn't have time at all), she did as the man who held her arm instructed. When she felt as if the tears were drowning her from the inside out, Persephone held his skin ever harder, so hard she was afraid her piercing nails would cause some type of breakage.

"Talk to me." Her voice was trembling, skin sweaty with the fire of the air. Hades found her desperation quickly.

"The souls have not been assessed in their own Judgements. That's why so many are unaccepting." She squeezed his hand, earning a squeeze back. "Some souls - the ones you see in silence - ached to be dead. They are understanding in their nature."

Life and death. What an insane cycle.

Combating her emotion, Persephone studied the course sand underneath her shoes, only then realizing this was one of the first times she beheld sand in so long. It was enough to soothe her over when they approached two towering black doors, embedded with swirling details of contained monsters and flowers. The Gates of Hades. The souls were miles away, clearly all in collective understanding that it was impossible to claw their way out of death. Hades let go of her hand to speak, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Cerberus is right on the other side. I'll introduce you to him and then we'll visit the Asphodel Fields. He will not harm you...so long as I am near you." Her mind blanked at the second piece of his sentence. Gulping, she nodded. The honesty offered her some reconciliation.

Turning to the Gate, Persephone was sent into a world of wonder as she watched the veins pumping underneath Hades's muscular arms as they shifted to glow a golden surge of powerful magic, igniting the Gates to open with a rickety _screech_. It was ancient, followed with something fearful - but left Persephone in awe.

Her reaction was disrupted as they both stepped through the Gates into the icy atmosphere of the world beyond, the blackness of complete dark illuminated by slender candlesticks connected to either sides of the frontal Gates. She felt a looming prescense against the taverned rock, as if something was watching her in the darkness coming from the right. Stalking her. Assessing her from the feet and up - she could not stop the tremble of her limbs as she slowly turned to the source.

Only to be robbed completely of all her sanity, three pairs of ginormous glowering white eyes feet away causing adrenaline to rush to her head. The only thing keeping her conscious was the warm body behind her, Hades's stance comfortable in all of her obvious fright.

"Cerberus." The authority in his voice was strong; strict in all of it's right. The glowering eyes moved closer, and she could feel the weight of the _dog_ from here. As all pieces of anticipation swallowed her, the creature moved into the light, the gasp that she let out all too real.

Cerberus was gigantic. Towers upon towers high in his height. Those three pairs of eyes belonged to three different heads, Cerberus's entire body black as midnight but sleek - like the thing was sanitary. Persephone knew that it was wiser to feel utter fear are the rows upon rows of gleaming sharp teeth in each of his mouths, but she only let stupidity possess her as she took a trembling stop forward.

"Persephone, careful." There was no sign of fright in Hades's voice, only trust. Trust that she could do this. Trust that all was well.

Because when Persephone took several paces close to the dog, both hands rose in sign that danger has completely passed, and all she could offer was her kindness. The three-headed beast assessed her with curious eyes, tilting it's head in question with the wag of a tree-sized tail. Persephone filtered her breaths, looking into the centered pair of eyes without breaking contact. _I am your friend,_ she promised.

When one of those three heads tilted down to meet Persephone's level, her heart sped up exponentially, adrenaline pumping when-

A large, wet tongue licked the entirety of her face, wetting her glorious red hair as Hades clapped in approval. Persephone giggled at the contact, patting the magnificently soft fur there.

"Good boy." Hades met the two in approval, patting on his pet's fur as Cerberus excitedly waged his tail at his master. All three tongues came out of their mouths to seemingly smile at him, Persephone staring at the exchange with a smile on her lips. She adored everything about this moment. "See? And you thought he wouldn't like you."

Persephone shook her head, every single white tooth on display as Cerberus rolled over for his father. Hades awarded him by falling to his knees to rub on Cerberus's huge belly.

"I can get used to this." Persephone admitted aloud. Hades's gaze met hers, an ebony eyebrow arising. She didn't speak further, because the smile on her face was very telling that she would absolutely hold the secret, but maybe...this reality was meant fighting for.

A reality where Hades, the man that was made out to be a monster, was truly just a man full of surprises. A man who loved his dog, and a man who was misunderstood. Not the God of the Underworld - but a man. A man with layers of story and tragedy that he kept masked from the world to not experience any lingering pain.

Persephone realized, in the most painful nature while watching Hades and Cerberus, that they were more alike than the sun and the moon.

**~**

The next stop on her official tour of the Underworld was the Elysian Fields. After careful consideration, Persephone considered it the most beautiful option, especially after the follow-up with meeting Cerberus. To avoid ruining the Asphodel Fields in all of it's glory, Hades took Persephone across a new route of passage that involved Charon dropping them off on the beach of Lake Lethe, which if she remembered correctly, was the lake of forgetfulness.

Upon dropping them off on the grayish-black sands of the beach, Persephone felt the upheave of gorgeous relief at the silence surrounding the beach, nobody - or no _soul_ withering away more importantly - to be spotted for miles. In fact the only thing that Persephone engulfed was the rising tide of the waves behind her, Hades guiding her East. She followed him reluctantly, stopping only to unstrap her boots. The redhead fell in the sand, the abrupt stop stirring confusion from Hades.

"And what might you be doing, ma'am?" Persephone ignored his tone of fluttering amusement as she then arose with her pair of boots in hand, socks tucked inside the shoes for security. They walked together, Persephone cherishing the feel of the grainy sand between her toes. Even on the beaches of death, everything felt lively.

"I wanted to feel the sand in between my toes." Hades sniggered at the goddess, the smile that remained on his face amused. His blue eyes looked forward. "So, why is this beach so deserted? And why is Lake Lethe known as the lake of forgetfulness?"

A chill blasted through the air, ruffling Persephone's contained curls to frizz. She pulled her covering further over her shoulders, analyzing Hades's features as he spoke.

"Well, the waters in Lake Lethe possess the power to make any being forget all of their memories. It just takes a single drop." He held up his index finger in emphasis. Persephone was striken, viewing the waters surrounding her in an entirely new light. "As you can imagine, nobody wants to be on such a lake that can induce such a cataclysmic event."

"Even if it's the least dangerous lake in all of the Underworld?" She questioned, slightly confused. Except when Hades's ocean blue eyes found hers, telling a story she couldn't read, she understood his sorrow.

"These waters...they make you insane. Take away the pain and ruin every last relationship in your life...afterlife or not." Persephone's throat felt thick then. "Which is why some souls are offered the possibility of forgetting everything of their previous lives."

Persephone's brown orbs stretched the size of saucers, desperately searching Hades's face to capture his eyes. Yet his face remained grave, endless in its mask of emotion. Her mind exploded with question then; aching. Hades was a man of reason - even she knew that much - so why take away that type of individualism from a person? Well, backtrack - why _give_ somebody that type of power?

"But why?" She tucked her free hand in the pockets of her leather pants, the fabric doing nothing to shield from the freezing cold. "Why even present them with that choice of giving up so much? If they reached the finish line then why take away so much?" Obviously she wasn't pointing the blame on him, because he specifically gave some souls that choice, but it was all plausible.

"I wouldn't consider it taking away. If I Judge some evil soul then I will force them to go into Tarturus with their memories. Because it contributes to their punishment, obviously." Tarturus was hell. True, burning hell. What did a person need to do to get down there? "And while Tarturus is your worse punishment, the best thing that can happen to anybody in the afterlife is go to the Elysian Fields. I created the Elysian Fields for the people who did wonder by life. Not okay, not good, but wonder."

"And the Asphodel Fields? That place is for the souls who were just...ordinary?" His nod of the head confirmed her question. They moved onward.

"Precisely. So we've got the good, the bad and the okay. A working system. No soul who heads into Tarturus will ever be presented with the choice of forgetting the crimes they did. Practically every soul who found boredom in their lives and wish to start over will be presented with the memory magic. Some decline, some accept. But the souls who go into the Elysian Fields...I present most of them with the choice to forget." Still his explanation was configuring into even more nonsense.

If the bad were so horrible as to remember, and the ordinary was just to ordinary to forget, then shouldn't the good...shouldn't they remember? Remember how they left the world behind for it to flourish through their example?

"Most souls who die and go to the Elysian Fields are young. Demigods that are tracked down by monsters or mortal heroes who lost more than they gained. Some die in combat for the ones they love, and others die because there was no other choice. And because no two souls are the same, there is no guarantee of them ever crossing paths again." His words left the deepest impact on her heart. "I can give a soul happiness through the Elysian Fields. What I can't give them is recovery from their loss with the use of sunshine and rainbows. That goes against the world's order. **Most** **people believe that death is the end, but** **even** **in** **death** **you** **miss** **the ones** **you** **love** **.** The places you felt safe. You can only go so far. Even if you're recognized as a hero, you can still feel like you lost in your afterlife."

Persephone hadn't realized that she was at the brink of sobbing until she was fighting back her tears, looking to this man with some undeniable emotion twisting her heart. Most believed him to be a monster, but every fragment he put into the Underworld was so caring that she felt immediate guilt at assuming this place was just some baren wasteland of darkness. Because he was king - the _God -_ who built it from the ground up.

"So yes, I provide only few with some chance of forgetting. But only if they're sure." He didn't face her, only kept staring down at the sands beneath them as Persephone raked word after word to find this emotion she was experiencing. This heartbreaking...but _beautiful_ feeling she yearned for Hades...

Was it gratefulness? Aspiration? Adortion? Yes...adortion. Fates, this was insane. Insane that she could look at him and see beyond his beauty to feel the real him. It was intense, raw and so _terrifying_. Terrifying that this growing emotion was only growing to become larger and larger.

And so she stayed silent on their walk across the beach, the world hanging on zen while took footstep after footstep with each other. Walking with him was peaceful, because suddenly there weren't any overbearing mothers, no requests and all was quiet. Moments later they approached the largest cave of grey stone Persephone had ever seen, one side adjoined to the sand while the other side marked the rising tide of the Lethe waters - as if the rock had some control over the island.

"This, is the home of Thanatos's twin brother and God of Sleep, Hypnos. Hypnos resides here with his wife. It is their duty to oversee Lethe's beach when they are presented with the time." Persephone would never understand why anybody would wish to live inside of a cave, but regardless, she brushed it under the rug and moved on. "On the other side of this cave, over rock is one of the most hidden portals of the Underworld, is the Elysian Fields."

"For convenience? Or...?" Persephone's finger was frozen on her chin as she watched the devilish smirk form on Hades's features, one of his hands quite literally traveling through the stone of the cave as if this was all some small trick.

Another surprise. One after another and Persephone just played with the ideology of the Underworld.

"More so for the intellectuals that think way too far into things." He removed his hand to motion for her to jump in first. "Only in limitation does anyone know of the portal. Come,"

He said it so simply, as if this was all a big magic act that required her attention. Then again, if she was as ancient as he was and crested together these lands with so much thought as he put entrusted into the process, then she'd be the same way. His expectant gaze piercing into her soul was what made Persephone put all of her fears at bay, remembering that this wasn't rock but instead masked magic. Her face braced into a grimace as she screamed, falling through unforgettable darkness.

**~**

Falling into the Elysian Fields was like falling down a rabbit hole, a process that lasted at least thirty seconds and left your head with the most pressuring migraine. Except the darkness of the tunnel was a smidge more enticing because Persephone could feel the rift of Hades's power behind her, falling with her until eventually there was a combustion of sunlight, the warmth of the air so real that she just didn't believe it until her body fell into the softest, most golden sand Persephone had ever come into contact with.

Hades did nothing to contain the laughter that escaped his throat, watching as Persephone arose with a grunt, hand on her head as she rubbed the blinding red curls there. It didn't fully hit her that her senses were completely knocked from her being until the smell of caramelized apples did, the air seemingly coated in good things and good things only. The migraine subsided as curiosity became her, the scenery too gorgeous to ignore. The most clear waters was far North, souls enjoying the sun in leisure. Many were lost in their own endeavors, laughing and conversing. They were the most joyful bodies Persephone had ever seen - because it was all deserved through all that they gave.

This beach stretched for miles, with houses of an array of attractive colors, boats colliding with the sea waves as voices echoed in happiness. She felt...so at peace. As if the world was every bit as disconnected here as it could be. No one could touch her here. Paradise began in the Elysian Fields while chaos ended with death.

Hades could only find himself staring at those brown peepers, the way the pupils enlarged as it took in every sizable result of this heavenly delight. The pride that swelled in his chest was uncontainable. Not for himself...not because he made all of this...but for once in all of his eons he knew he did something so, so _right_ _._ He did right by the people who deserved it all. The silence between them bloomed out of comfort.

"This is...this is gorgeous." Her tone was enterlaced with every bit of awe. "The skies are so clear, and the smell...why does it smell so good?"

"Hecate casted a projection cantation into the atmosphere. Incense. Incense crafted specifically to one person. Your senses are more glorified here to things you're attracted to." Crouching down, Persephone didn't hesitate to dip her hands in the sand, marveling in the texture.

Sand may of been bothersome to over three-quarters of the population, but _this_ sand, was warm and soft and so pleasing Persephone would prefer naps on the sandy ground.

"Out of curiosity, what is it that you smell?" It was a last minute question she directed towards him, but she was genuine all the same.

A pause. Hades leaned his back against the palm tree behind him, dipping his head against the tree's bark to find her eyes. "A thought for a thought?" His dark streaks of ebony reflected the relentless sun.

Persephone sighed, sweeping off her hands to dust every grain of the ground from her fingernails. She matched his height, overcoming mountains that almost corrupted her honesty. The scent was a part of her, rooted into her childhood all because of her mother. It broke fractions of her soul to think so deeply about it, but it was impossible to ignore.

"Candy apples. Specifically coated in caramel." She cleared her throat, avoiding his eyes to face the burning sun. "I have only tasted them once...but I dream of them every single day."

The silence that followed was full of her inevitable thoughts, thoughts that plagued her of images flickering from only days ago. Those images felt like they were resurrected from hundreds of years ago, only to come back and haunt her forever. Expect it was only a complex week...and she couldn't bare the space. The shadows that tugged against her stomach weren't her own, and her eyes automatically found Hades's under the throbbing sun. This wasn't a staring contest but only the indescribable tug of two lonely souls.

_Lavender._ He filled her thoughts. _I smell lavender._

She didn't need to question him to understand why.

~

"Welcome to the Asphodel Fields." The air was crystallized blue, painted with wispy, fluffy clouds. Although Persephone was sure they were still in the Underworld, the scenery had completely changed to what seemed to be the most human of meadows. There was nothing really spectacular in the land but just...flowers. The temperature was perfect, not too hot yet not too cold at once. Bodies of content, roaming souls walked across the rows of stretching white asphodel flowers, some conversing and others enjoying the streams beyond. If anything she was reminded of the corn fields back in Demeter's region, only the corn was white and lilac asphodels. The air smelled of nature, and everything refueled Persephone's broken side.

She couldn't decipher whether she loved or loathed it. This entire day thus far was an attack of her emotions from every side of the spectrum, so she stayed jaded.

Hades and Persephone overlooked the fields side by side, Persephone drinking in the sunny weather and smell of beautiful, fertilized asphodel. Memories swirled of what felt like another life. Another life of continuous sun and beating heat, blooming the flowers she thought she would bloom until the end of time. How was she was okay then? Why did everything feel perfectly alright?

"So this is where all the ordinary souls go."

Ordinary.

That was her only response, her tone noticeably different. Her words were weighed down, her will to keep going after being hit with so many aspects of the past putting a damper on her mood. She was trying trying drown out her mother's face, of the crinkle of her brows when she scrunched them together in anger to the red of her hair...but it was all seething against her.

There was something building inside of her. Something that ultimately couldn't be silenced, and that was where the fear settled, because she knew of the result of her ruin. Knew that pushing down the cries that desperately wished to be released was something so unhealthy, and yet every part of her mind was screaming.

She could not focus. Couldn't see anymore. Her hands were trembling at her sides and the shadows inside were circulating, creating a hurricane that had the utmost ability to destroy.

The lilac asphodels at the corner of her vision were blanking, and all was churning and burning, because suddenly Hades's skin found her arm and he was screaming. Screaming because his mouth was moving and Persephone barely caught the motion because the ringing in her ears...it was _too_ _much_ _._

"PERSEPHONE!" He screamed, souls stopping to find her at the scene. Their eyes burned her skin. Her arm was igniting with some furious fire, begging to burn down the world. How much would it take? How much?

_Nothing_ _._ It wasn't Hades's voice, but the memory of her mother's. That tone was full of solemn, unpiecable disappointment.

She was going to find her. Going to find her and place her in that terrible, terrible corner again. Her pants were rugged, and her throat burned with the fury of one thousand tears. She needed to get out. She _wanted_ it all to stop.

Now.

"I can't hold it in anymore." She gripped Hades's two shoulders and the tears that fell down her cheeks intermixed with the stressful blood falling from her nose, those blue eyes wide with caution. Fear offset deep inside of her bones.

He was going to get hurt. She was going to hurt him, too. Just like she hurt Demeter.

"Persephone no!"

And right when the power of her rage exploded, right when all went to hell and all she could feel was inconsolable ancient magic, Hades was a flurry of shadow as Persephone pushed him back with force, Hades's hands shooting up to create a barrier of pure shadow to enrapture around Persephone as she screamed in agony. Electric purple filling that transparent bubble as bloody tears fell down her cheeks, the world falling to darkness as every last speck of energy escaped the Spring Goddess's body. Only when her ruin was exhausted was when she fell, Hades capturing her in his arms as her eyes slammed shut from furious fatigue.

Her heart was bleeding. Rising and falling with guilt. This world was unfair, and for an immortal - death was the only call to Persephone's destruction that she could yearn for.


	13. eleven : a god and his goddess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my loves! Today's chapter is going to be shorter than usual. It isn't at all a filler because I do see all the substance that is in this piece and it's importance. Because believe it or not, next week is finally our wedding chapter and life has been kicking my ass, so I just needed some fun before I really tackle the wedding scene.
> 
> Onwards we go.
> 
> \- Autumn.

**HECATE WASN'T REALLY SURE** if it was this newfound joy of returnal that fueled her swiftness regarding work, or if she just found the newest spark of happiness she had lost for centuries before a week ago, but reviewing her accomplishments of the day was entirely too valuable of a memory to forget. As obvious as it stands, Hecate thrived off of working. Her past relationships either loved or hated that trait of her with some new burning furiosity, but the old witch could never care because staying calm was akin to a death sentence in her mind.

With immortality casted aside, of course. But even with an unlimited amount of always, Hecate would constantly find herself racing against time no matter the task. Whether it be traveling the crossroads, finding Olympus again or...wedding planning, the clock may run fast but Hecate ran ever faster.

Which is why she would forever pride herself for almost completing the wedding of the eternity in less than a week. Many assumed that the capacity of the guests or a large venue made a _perfect_ wedding, but Hecate knew the bride and his springtime groom. They both would revel in something memorable, and Hecate made it a pinpoint of this journey to avoid any bumps at all costs. Even if that meant the guest list was miniscule, even if that meant not many could bask in this joyus wonder, all that mattered was Hades and Persephone's emotions. Every trivial detail was considered, from the color of the flowers to the dinner of a lifetime. Hecate ensured that their Olympian culture was included in moderation, following the personalities of both Hades and Persephone with respect. The union between the God of the Underworld and the Goddess of Spring would be miraculous.

"You are treating this much too seriously." Remember when Hecate stated very specifically that _she_ organized the wedding of the century? Oh yes, well, the bobblehead of a death god had so _willingly_ volunteered. "For Fates' sake Hades said to take your time! And you have me finalizing the wedding plans to interrupt my me time."

Thanatos dragged his feet beside her as they walked the halls to Hades's study, the castle dark and asleep. Hecate rolled her eyes at his lazed posture, his dramatics growing what she couldn't decide was either bothersome or amusing.

"Awh poor little dude." Hecate's tone matched that of a baby's. "I take away his lotion time to do something important and he complains about it."

_"Lotion time!"_ The exclamation was so loud that with a snap and a simple silencing charm Hecate's emerald green magic floated into Thanatos's mouth, silencing him for mere seconds before the audio was released again. He huffed. "Just because you have your witchy tricks doesn't mean you have the high ground."

Knowing that her tiny legs were carrying her even further than him was only contributing to the growing smirk on her face, the combustion of laughter held aback. Throughout this entire process of (barely) working alongside the young god, she found his presence to be somewhat annoying, but comforting all at once. Comforting because Thanatos was never judgemental, even if his jokes came across as such. Not only that attribute but he didn't expect anything from her. He wasn't even intimated by her aura. She found all of this to be...refreshing. It was new; rare.

"See you may believe that, but those witchy tricks of mine can destroy millions. I would be ever more grateful to have been put under a simple silencing spell than me shadow-choking you."

She only realized the opening mistake once she glanced behind her to see the childish tug of those constructed lips, Thanatos taking all the time in the world to make her further feel more intrigued by his response.

"Shadow-choking." They approached the study's door, Thanatos nudging her with a snigger. She rejected the rush of heat to the skin of her cheeks. "Sounds very kinky."

Hecate allowed herself a singular exasperated sigh before knocking on the cherrywood door with the brunt of her knuckles, the sound echoing until the door clicked open, revealing her boss and best friend of many ages...looking insanely tired. Stressed. Hades's ocean blue eyes were behind his black rimmed glasses, the light doing nothing to hide those deep eyebags that practically twinned to bruises. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, even untucked from his leather trousers. She could practically feel the frustration rippling off of him in waves, which ultimately triggered her worry.

"Damn boss...you don't look too good." Thanatos did no justice by their king. It was only when Hades turned around to greet them inside when Hecate's free hand slapped Thanatos's bicep. _Hard._ So hard his whispered _ow!_ was almost comical.

"I appreciate the honesty, Thanatos. I have just had an insane end of the day." He faced his minions as they walked into the study, Hecate clutching even harder on her binder of thick parchment paper. She almost felt terrible for calling everything this late in the evening, especially with Hades's drained attitude.

"I take it that the tour didn't go the direction you wished it to go?" Hecate questioned, all three gods seating themselves on the leather loveseats next to Hades's bookshelf. A solemn nod from Hades confirmed every single one of her suspicions. From beside her, Thanatos stayed silent.

"It wasn't like it was terrible. Not at all. I just meant that at the end of the day, right after we entered the Asphodel Fields, Persephone began to break down." The Goddess of the Crossroads did nothing to control the speeding hammer of her heart. "Another magical attack she could not control. It escalated from a panic attack quickly to her power getting involved, and I had seconds to close a barrier around her entire body to shield the Asphodel Fields."

Thanatos cursed under his breath, the God of the Underworld's words clearly leaving an impact on his mind, too.

"Furthermore, I found that holding the shield was tiring. I haven't felt that kind of drainage since the war against my father. Her power is growing...and her triggers are amplifying her magic to go out of even her own control."

Hecate's hazel eyes were the size of saucers, the binder dropping from her hands. Almost any immortal being had the capability to bring cities to dust depending on their parentage and duty, but at this young? At eighteen years old? Amplification through power was already one of the most dangerous forces to intermix with magic, and if not controlled, the consequences could be catastrophic. Pieces and shards of her past rose to memory, and there was a twist in her heart.

"The wedding is in two days. What if we find something to soothe her stress before the physicality of training begins?" Thanatos was the quickest to respond, giving Hecate some level of satisfaction. "I've trained in combat. I know through the struggle that your mind needs more preparation than your body. And in this specific scenario Persephone could benefit from speaking to someone."

"Like a therapist." The ridge of the black rimmed temple tips of Hades's glasses were between his teeth, eyes indifferent as he assessed the idea with a nod. "Like Oizys."

Oizys. The Goddess of depression, anxiety, woe and grief. All four subcoordinates she suffered endlessly, even at three hundred and twelve years old. Oizys was Thanatos's half-sister, springing from Nyx's mind after what Thanatos had discovered was the most tragic shards of Erebus and Nyx's ongoing marriage. The horror stories he heard from his living sibilings at that time boiled his blood with an unsatiable rage for his father's broken neck. In the result of this affair and wrongdoing Nyx brought life through the emotions she was battling: Oizys, the Goddess of Depression, and Momus, the God of Blame. Depression for her husband's betrayal, and all the blame she birthed with it. The birth of his twinned sibilings brought catastrophic rage from Erebus, only furthering the dimness that was their marriage. He would never in his immortality understand how someone as cruel as his father could hold someone as perfect as his mother. Consistently.

"I've meddled with the idea. Her mental health goes beyond everything. And if anybody can bring her back into the light then-" Hades was tragically cut off.

"It's you, brother." The smile on Thanatos's face was everything serving to the broken sunshine in these walls. Because Hecate would never deny the slight contained tug of Hades's lips, the world defying all odds. Death could love Life, even if the logistics of the people deemed Death - unrightfully - unworthy.

"Perhaps. But I would still like her to have a support group beyond this circle." The king sighed, standing on his two feet for the other two bodies to repeat the action. "Thanatos, seek out your sister tonight. Explain the situation and see if something could be arranged for her to visit Persephone tomorrow. I trust her with this marriage."

Hecate's eyes flew to the Death God, the smirk that claimed his features every bit excited. She felt in her heart the connection between the two deities then, the powerful radiation of this deep bond she somewhat understood bringing rippling waves of pride. If only the world could see Hades the way he operated this beautiful world of constant midnight, pouring his stress and his soul into everything he adored. This included the way he protected his family, because even if they were sworn of his blood, he still looked upon those eyes as if he had known them for eons before.

"Oh boss, I love when you talk order to me."

The collective roll of eyeballs brought strong, masculine laughter from Thanatos, the snap of his fingers dismissing him in deep shadow. His abscense brought some damper of emptiness to the room. Which...irked and excited Hecate at the realization. Maybe she would find an ally inside the goofy God of Death...just maybe.

"What a moron." Hecate whispered under her breath, gathering the forgotten binder pieces now on the ground in all of it's scattered pages. So much for finalization.

"Tell me about it." Hades chuckled, assisting his friend in her pickup. Hecate noticed the curious glances at the paperwork, the tiny squints of his ancient orbs confirming all of her suspicions. Even the tiny tug of his lips was calculated, relaxing back into a face of indifference. He was curious, and he was excited. Two key points that led them straight to a positive direction. "It would appear my assistant also left us on this wedding cliffhanger. Did you want to go through an overview of the wedding?"

Once the binder was reassembled, Hecate straightened her back to stand in front of the God of the Underworld, analyzing his features as a shallow sigh escaped his throat. Toned hands in his pockets, Hades leaned against his desk, looking to the grounds with something swimming in those blue pools. A reflection of what Hecate didn't understand, but a reflection that meant something nonetheless.

"I appreciate all of your efforts to consider my opinion on _my_ wedding, Hecate. However I have faith in your understanding of me, and I know that you would never turn what is meant to be one of the happiest days of my life sour. I don't need any kind of finalization, because it isn't the venue or the food or the reception that matters to me. It's her and purely her." Hecate's heart soared at his words. Soared and flew and found the sunshine because she had so much love for this union. "If there is one thing that I could change right now about this wedding that I am absolutely positive is not in that ginormous binder, it is that **Persephone must** **be** **served** **the most** **delectable** **candy** **apple** **this** **world has ever seen."**

Truly, he found some type of weakness in her godly planning. Because for seconds Hecate's mind blanked and questions arose only to be silenced at the genuine smile on Hades's features. There was some kind of inside joke to be discovered in this voyage, but she wouldn't pry simply off the fact that what was between the two gods meant to coexist in that approximate duology.

The duology none of the world came to expect, but also the very thing the universe needed in all of it's cosmic oblivion.

**~**

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

This room was cold; polar. Still the redheaded goddess felt burning hot all over, accompanied by a darkness that roared. Darkness that was hardly contained underneath those dark orbs, because something in her heart was breaking. Breaking to remotely sit in this room with this woman that she knew little to nothing about. Words swirled at all the possibilities as to why she could be here beside her. Thanatos called this a _conversation_ _,_ while Hecate worded this as something that would be...calming. Twenty minutes of voided, awkward silence was anything but. She felt so insanely _ridiculous._

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Persephone still couldn't register how she had gotten here. In that velvet loveseat opposite the leather armchair of the Goddess tapping her ballpoint pen against paper, prescense so impactful that Persephone could feel it radiating off her body in powerful waves. A magnet reached for that aura of woe, begging to unleash its very suffering on that tether to seek understanding. Caramel wideset eyes never left her, never broke away even when she glared to the carpets of her own room.

Anxiety ate away at her gut at the unfamiliar color scheme of the queen's suite, connected to the comforting darkness that was Hades's room. Everything felt so...empty. Unfamiliar. Persephone attempted and failed many times to understand the distance she felt deep inside of her room, but it all boiled down to how the scent of him was stripped away and nothing felt safe when those precise ivory sheets on the luxurious bed left no warmth. Fingers flew to her left hand, pressing down on the right of her palm with a fury.

The tapping silenced at the little detail. Persephone's mind was racing, rejecting comprehension at the warm eyes analyzing her movements. There was a falter in her behavior, a variety of differentiation that was too detached of the previous twenty minutes spent in silence. Persephone could still recall the first details she noticed of the woman in front of her. She looked young - but not too young. Her stance, her posture, it was all so collected. Polished. As if every barrier was invisible around her and she could cripple Persephone's in a very heartbeat. She was beautiful. Wideset brown eyes captured the very beauty of her golden soul inside, long brown curls cascading down to the ends of her breasts. Her jaw was sculpted as Thanatos's was, sharp in its edges with a chin of pointed dimples. Her cheeks were so much more defined, and the only _"blemish"_ that could be characterized in sight was the dark circles under her eyes. Persephone was aware of the effects of makeup, of what it could take away and mask. This woman, this goddess - ignored the evidence of that fact.

Because that was what pain did to a person. Made something as simple as operation of your everyday tasks - like makeup - horrifying to enact. That stir deep in her stomach quenched, thirsty for blood. For something to hold on to. Something to havoc.

"I remember that trick." Those were the first four words that Persephone had heard from Oizys in almost half an hour. Her voice was so much stronger than her aura. It was impossible to explain. Nor intimidating or impassive, soft nor rigged - but strong. Assertive and never breaking. However she had accomplished the achievement of this headstrong tone Persephone could never understand. "It is one of the most calming distractions for anxiety."

That storm wavered, tripping over the Goddess of Anxiety's words. It hit some collision of nerves, offsetting a dangerous reaction that Persephone had never reached before: anger. Seething, hot anger. The kind that came from deep inside of her body, not understanding the totality of it's existence because it was so extraordinarily different from every emotion she felt building inside of her these last few days. It was something that was exact to buildings falling over, tearing brick from brick as Persephone built an empire from nothing only for it to crash over and over again, defying her hard work.

The redhead's eyes caught Oizys', this time _hers_ unlentless on the goddess. She expected some reaction, some sputter of an apology, but Oizys hang true and stared straight back, pen in right hand in the most relaxed clutch. She seemed un **break** able, and that word only punctured her where it hurt the most. Where the pieces remained scattered and unfixed.

"Why are you here?" Her sharp fingernails were digging into the velvet armrest beside her. Her posture was growing more and more concise - back straightening to find some...authority to simmer the growing anger. "Why am _I_ here?"

"I will never answer that question for you, Persephone." A long, tan leg crossed over the other as she leaned back in that seat, holding contact with the Spring princess. "Only you can answer it yourself."

She loathed the woman's response. Loathed it because she was so exhausted, and so driven by this rage hitting her in burning sequences of heated flashes. She wanted them all gone. Wiped from the very fabric of reality. Except there were so such possibilities because that would be too simple for the complexities of Persephone's life, and all she had left was this horrifying aftermath. The grit to defy the thoughts diseasing her brain, and the struggle that was this power.

Any individual would want her power. As mysterious as it was now, the mystery would never take from the level of her magic. Many would call her blessed, but to have these ongoing tantrums that were so obviously linked to her past intermixing with her abilities was a signatured hell. She wanted them gone. Wanted her cutesy flower tricks at full reload. But that...that was impossible now.

"I..." Persephone's eyes found that carpet again. What was she doing her? Not Oizys, but her? Nobody was forcing her to sit in this room, silenced by nothing but her own shadowy doubt and the clock that just kept ticking. As if the world wasn't done with her for the day, her irises caught the unfamiliar carpeting, and it for some reason contributed to her anger. Because like this carpet, like every other unbearable aspect of her life, it revealed that nothing would ever stay the same. "I want you to leave."

She couldn't look up. Her throat was burning, analyzing the intricate details of black roses fading into the soft grounds. Blood boiled against freezing skin. Above her, the soft patter of footsteps hitting the ground sounded. They echoed in her unresponsive ears until Oizys's voice found her again.

"I am always a letter away, goddess. This hurt...this sorrow that I feel surrounding you...it is only a choice. A choice that you can destroy. It doesn't have to be like this." Her door clicked open. The burning sensation stung her nose and found her tear ducts. Still she forced her eyes to stay trained to the ground, arms shaking together. "I promise."

Just like magic, her exit signaled the tremors to begin, streams of liquid sorrow falling from her cheeks with a fury.

If it wasn't supposed to be like this, why did it have to hurt so bad?

**~**

One would assume that the eve of your wedding was reserved for partying, liquid regrets or even the most restful sleep to ever be had in your lifetime. For the God of the Underworld however, this night began like all the ones previously: with a migraine, the most stubborn insomnia the godly race has ever seen and his everyday paperwork grouped with gallons of coffee.

Coffee that had just spilled all over Hades's paperwork, evicting the most colorful string of cursewords to leave his mouth. In his eons he had never avoided the blunt mistakes that were easily ignoreable regarding his workspace. Because this tiny office was somewhat of both a safe haven and the most stressful room in his home all at once. It wasn't as if there was anything at all sentimental tying him to this room. It was just so rooted in his memory from the very beginning of godhood that he just couldn't imagine working anywhere beyond it. Judgements aside, of course.

Regardless, one in the morning had been blown to the wind of breakable wedding traditions as Hades trudged to his ginormous kitchen for more coffee. This process was intentionally done in the mundane method because the smallest amount of procrastination inside of him had raged on to allow it. Which was practically gleaming in all of it's rarity.

Except that mug in hand was so forgotten when he reached the kitchen door, opening it only to find his favorite person atop one of the marbeled counters, a spoon in her hand with the largest bowl of molten chocolate he had ever seen on her lap. Persephone's eyes instantly found his, and all of normality went to hell as Hades leaned against the doorframe with the most devilish grin on his face. She looked so beautiful like this. Caught in her act of midnight snacking with only that light pink nightgown, hair unleashed in dancing waves against creamy white skin. Although he had already _voiced_ his opinion by thought, Hades found his fiancé so effortlessly gorgeous (with and) without the makeup. Here under the light of the kitchen...she was everything. Everything and more.

"I couldn't sleep." She softly inquired with a mouth full of dark chocolate. It took literally everything inside of him to stiffle the laugh building to release in his throat.

"Oh? And I suppose that is the excuse you are using now?" Persephone's eyebrow shot up, eyes landing on the mug in hand. Her face revealed it all.

Busted.

"So I can't eat chocolate at one in the morning but you can settle your very unhealthy caffeine intake?"

Hades walked in silence to the cabinet holding his pans, ramaging through the loud items until he found the correct size.

"My caffeine intake is _very_ healthy, my dear." He was pleased to see that Persephone was already turning the knob on the stove beside her to begin the burner. "We're gods. The picture of health."

"Still its always beautiful to live in moderation." It was his turn to raise an ebony eyebrow at the woman in front of him, eyes falling to the bowl of straight up chocolate occupying her lap. The scarlet blush of her cheeks was every bit as adorable as he could imagine, the spoon being cleaned by her mouth. "Okay maybe I was wrong."

"Mhm." He smirked, using two fingers to summon the most concentrated coffee beans he had in his cabinets. The levitation took seconds, flying right into his hands. From the corner of his eye he could see the little goddess watching him sprinkle the beans into the pits of the cup with large brown eyes. Hades scorned the people who ever swore that brown eyes were deemed the most unattractive, because he swore on the River Styx each day for these near two weeks that she had stars in her eyes.

Silence followed closely behind the pair as the water boiled, taking all of the time in the universe to even simmer. Hades wouldn't deny the comfort he felt in her prescense, as if they had been pulling all-nighters for centuries before the now. In those few moments he focused on anything _but_ the stunning woman at his side. Or at least attempted to, until words floated from Persephone's mouth.

"I'm going to be married tomorrow." Her tone was so genuine, so astonished that it hit close to his soul. This was common knowledge. After all it was _him_ that would be her husband. " _We're_ going to be married tomorrow." Their eyes met, and his heart stopped. Time, as torturous as it could drag, had never seemed faster.

It felt like moments ago they were in each other's arms, dying for more pieces and glances at each other. Like it would be their last encounter, against all odds.

And against all odds they were here again. Now united by this marriage and magic that binded them by blood. Binded by the pain he could feel calling to him from her trauma.

"How was Oizys?" He needed to know. Know if her wellbeing was obviously holding on by that tether, because that was all that mattered right now. Not the coffee or the work or the wedding tomorrow, but her mind. Her soul. "Was there...any progress?"

Fingers pushed red hair behind her ear as Persephone's chocolate eyes found the walls of the room, studying them each with a frown of plump lips. He allowed her the time to gather her thoughts, analyzing the quiver of her bottom lip. His heart churned.

"I feel terrible." It was so silent that even space itself would be put to shame. "I was quiet the entire time. And the second she opened her mouth I got angry and made her leave." Maybe he was imagining it, but he could visibly see her fighting against the glass in her eyes. "I think it's because...I'm trying so hard to forget when in reality it's the only thing I see. I want to forget, I want to forget so much, but how can I forget if it is just a part of me? This power is a part of me." Crackling purple ignited her veins under her skin for emphasis, his alarm settling when the purple faded to normality again. "And..how can I forget when my mother will not be at my wedding tomorrow to walk me down the aisle?"

That was like a blow to the gut. Not because it hurt Hades whatsoever, but because the pure torture in her tone recommended that this was eating her alive. His muscular hands clutched on the rag in his hand.

"But then there is the remembrance of what I did to her...and how she made me feel...how she wanted to lock me up...and I don't know how to control these emotions. So I let it build. I let the storm rage." Her head turned to find his eyes, a singular tear falling before Persephone eliminated the breakage of another. "I don't want to go back, Hades. Back to that world of sunshine again. Because I am not who I once was. I'm not sunshine and blue skies. I have that moonlight inside of me...and I want to learn to control it. I want to learn how to govern the Underworld beside you. I want to _live_. I want...I want to be your friend. Even if I am to be your wife, I want your companionship first."

There was such joy washing over him that he was so afraid to move, so afraid to do anything at this moment because there was such lingering fear that he would wake up on his desk and this would all be some beautiful dream to never come true. But this wasn't a dream, because the nod she offered at the end of it all was confirmation enough.

_I'm_ _not a dream._ She filled his head, their souls meeting one another's all over again. If only she understood how wrong she was. _Watch._

Hades's being froze as one of her shaky hands rose, seconds ticking by as her soft fingertips and palm met the entirety of his right cheek, testing the feel of the stubbled skin there. He released a breath, his chest afire with a hammering heart. Her touch was sitting him on fire.

_I'm completely real._ She was igniting him. Igniting his shadows to come closer.

They had had touches before. Touches that were fueled off instinct or because there was some spontaneous guesses regarding never seeing one another again, but this enchanted their time together, creating another level entirely. Because she held his eyes, and he held hers. It wasn't until the absence of her touch left the cold to shock his now functioning mind, dragging him from whatever trance she had put upon him. They were so much closer now, his body now directly in front of hers even when she was in this sitting position. Close enough to kiss.

But he backed away only slightly, some phenomena of a scenario playing out in his mind to enable him to move his hand upwards, pinkie finger extended. Per expected, she stared upon that finger in pitiful question, but a picture full of interest.

"We will never be traditional. And I can already guarantee that. Which is why I promise my everything to you, Persephone." She didn't stop him when his pinkie finger swept her own, interlocking the two fingers around each other to convey its importance. "I promise that I will train you and make you the Goddess of the Underworld. I will support you through your therapy, through your journey. I will never undermine your opinion as my wife or even simply as a person. I pledge my loyalty to you and only you. You will be considered as my equal as queen. I promise that above all, above the world and every last star beyond this kingdom, that I will protect you. I will never let anybody take you away from me. Even if it means raging a war. Even if it means fragmenting my soul. Even if it means fighting until I am spent and done for. I would travel the universe and break realms if it meant keeping you safe. I will protect you, Persephone. And I promise that on the River Styx."

The rumble of thunder feet above ground combined with the wide beautified smile on the goddess's face dug into his memory forever. Her pinkie clutched ever tighter to his, the tear that escaped her eyes anything but sad.

"As I will forever remain loyal to you Hades - as my husband and my friend, my king and my god. I will rule rightfully beside you as my equal. I will protect you with everything I have. I would burn down the world just to keep you in it. And if I so much as cross the lines of this vow let the River Styx have my head."

And they may not have seen it then, may not have noticed the new magic that filtered through their veins, but their combined pinkies were now swirling with shadow and crackling purple, the god and his goddess finding homage at last.

That made them the God and Goddess of the Underworld.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live for them. Seriously.
> 
> For those of you who may be curious, that little promise wasn't simply just a nod towards the River Styx or the good old fashioned pinkie promise, but something much deeper we'll understand later on ;)
> 
> Until next week!
> 
> \- Autumn.


End file.
